Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 3a-4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor okra, cranberry, cilantro, and zucchini, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area lies within the Interior Alaska / Tanana Valley (Fairbanks) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Southeast Fairbanks Census Area — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area — the short answer
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska: USDA zones 3a-4b, about 85 days between hard freezes, across 15.9M acres.
- USDA zones
- 3a-4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 31
- TOK station, 1,625 ft — 60 km away, 22 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Aug 24
- TOK station, 1,625 ft — 60 km away, 22 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~85
- TOK station, 1,625 ft — 60 km away, 22 yr record
- County area
- 15.9M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3a-4b is Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's 85-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Southeast Fairbanks County
Across Southeast Fairbanks County, the ground is predominantly Gelisols, where Goldstream, Tanana, and 29-Nenana are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.1–6.0, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Gelisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Hydric soils
35%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
The USDA soil survey maps 45% of Southeast Fairbanks Census Area as poorly drained — but another 52% drains differently: 18% well drained, 13% very poorly drained.
Goldstream is the most extensive named soil at 1% of mapped acres, then Tanana (1%) and 29-Nenana (1%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
Each reading below is measured for Southeast Fairbanks Census Area itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area are poorly drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area runs about pH 5.1–6.0, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredSoutheast Fairbanks Census Area runs about 85 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSoutheast Fairbanks Census Area sits in USDA hardiness zones 3a-4b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
We scored all 1,086 plants against Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's own USDA zone 3a-4b and its own 85-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile.
Is it too late to plant in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Aug 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Southeast Fairbanks County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Southeast Fairbanks County — 373 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 11 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
Closest first, across Southeast Fairbanks County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- North Mosquito FlatsMining · 3.9 mi
- Mosquito ProspectMining · 7.8 mi
- MosquitoMining · 7.9 mi
- July 26Mining · 8.1 mi
- J-26Mining · 8.3 mi
- Iron CreekMining · 13.7 mi
- Vabm WestMining · 14.0 mi
- VW, VABM WestMining · 14.3 mi
- Copper CreekMining · 15.1 mi
- My Creek ProspectMining · 15.9 mi
- Eva CreekMining · 16.5 mi
- Mitchell CopperMining · 16.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Southeast Fairbanks Census Area.
Total Sites
373
across Southeast Fairbanks County
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
11 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Southeast Fairbanks County
Severity Distribution
across Southeast Fairbanks County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, two things run higher than the national average across Southeast Fairbanks County — Mining (251 sites) and Superfund (11 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area average
Your land is one point inside Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
Everything above resolves to Southeast Fairbanks Census Area as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 15.9M acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at county scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better county average.
Your Lot vs the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area Average
Southeast Fairbanks Census Area Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a-4b, averaged across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
- ●One soil character for all of Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
- ●Frost dates read at Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's scale: May 31 to Aug 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's 3a-4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Southeast Fairbanks Census Area averages can't show:
We read public map data around Southeast Fairbanks Census Area — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area average
How we know this about Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Southeast Fairbanks Census Area carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
When does frost risk typically end in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area typically lands around May 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Jun 21.
How long is the growing season in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area sees about 85 frost-free days — roughly May 31 through Aug 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 21 to Aug 10, about 50 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area?
The federal record around Southeast Fairbanks Census Area runs heavier than most — 373 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (251), the nearest Mining record about 3.9 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Southeast Fairbanks Census Area?
With about 85 frost-free days between hard freezes, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 113 to 141 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 31 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's scale — its 3a-4b band and its 85-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Alaska's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's own scale — its own ~85-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 373 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3a-4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~85-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Southeast Fairbanks Census AreaUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 373 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Mining record about 3.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's boundary and the 15,897,092 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3a-4b and a ~85-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Southeast Fairbanks Census Area — the ~85 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Southeast Fairbanks Census Area's 15,897,092 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 373 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Southeast Fairbanks Census Arearead your own land →