Deltana, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Deltana, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Deltana lot. 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 Deltana — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Deltana — the short answer
Deltana, Alaska: USDA zone 3b, about 85 days between hard freezes, across 364K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 31
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Aug 24
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~85
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 364K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3b is Deltana's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Deltana's 85-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Deltana
Each reading below is measured for Deltana itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDeltana runs about 85 days between hard freezes (read from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, the closest normal to Deltana) — 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
MeasuredDeltana sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Deltana
Every plant below cleared Deltana's own zone 3b and its 85-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Deltana?
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.
What's on the federal record near Deltana
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Deltana. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- US ARMY GERSTLE RIVER TEST SITESuperfund · 5.3 mi
- MccumberMining · 6.3 mi
Measured from Deltana'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 Deltana.
Total Sites
2
within ~10 miles of Deltana
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Deltana
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Deltana
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 Deltana average
Your land is one point inside Deltana
Everything above resolves to Deltana as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 364K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 town 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 local average.
Your Lot vs the Deltana Average
Deltana Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Deltana
- ●One soil character for all of Deltana
- ●Frost dates read at Deltana's scale: May 31 to Aug 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Deltana's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Deltana
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Deltana, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Deltana averages can't show:
We read public map data around Deltana — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Deltana average
How we know this about Deltana
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Deltana
When does frost risk typically end in Deltana?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Deltana 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.
When is the first frost in Deltana?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Deltana typically arrives around Aug 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 10, so the watching starts about Jul 25 — about 85 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Deltana?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Deltana 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 Deltana?
The federal record around Deltana is a meaningful one — 2 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (1), the nearest Superfund record about 5.3 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Deltana?
With about 85 frost-free days between hard freezes, Deltana 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 Deltana's scale — its 3b band and its 85-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Deltana's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Deltana’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Deltana's own scale — the 363,633 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Deltana's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Deltana, the closest Superfund record about 5.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Deltana's boundary and the 363,633 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~85-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Deltana has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Deltana's 363,633 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Southeast Fairbanks County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Southeast Fairbanks County
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Southeast Fairbanks County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Deltana's 363,633 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Deltana you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 363,633 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 5.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Deltana-wide figureread your own land →