Dot Lake, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Dot Lake, 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 Dot Lake 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 Dot Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dot Lake — the short answer
Dot Lake, Alaska: USDA zone 3a, about 85 days between hard freezes, across 189K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3a
- 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
- 189K 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 3a is Dot Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dot Lake's 85-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dot Lake
Each reading below is measured for Dot Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDot Lake runs about 85 days between hard freezes (read from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, the closest normal to Dot Lake) — 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
MeasuredDot Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a.
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 Dot Lake
Plants matched to Dot Lake's USDA zones 3a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Dot Lake?
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. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Dot Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dot Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Knub RidgeMining · 5.6 mi
Measured from Dot Lake'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 Dot Lake.
Total Sites
1
within ~10 miles of Dot Lake
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dot Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Dot Lake
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 Dot Lake average
Your land is one point inside Dot Lake
Everything above resolves to Dot Lake as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 189K 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 Dot Lake Average
Dot Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a, averaged across Dot Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Dot Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Dot Lake's scale: May 31 to Aug 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dot Lake's 3a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dot Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dot Lake, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dot Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dot Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dot Lake average
How we know this about Dot Lake
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 Dot Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Dot Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dot Lake 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 Dot Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dot Lake 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 Dot Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dot Lake 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 Dot Lake?
The federal record around Dot Lake is light — 1 documented site across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (1), the nearest Mining record about 5.6 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Dot Lake?
With about 85 frost-free days between hard freezes, Dot Lake 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 Dot Lake's scale — its 3a band and its 85-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dot Lake'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 Dot Lake’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Dot Lake's own scale — the 188,790 acres it covers and 1 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dot Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dot Lake, the closest Mining record about 5.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dot Lake's boundary and the 188,790 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Dot Lake 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 Dot Lake's 188,790 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Southeast Fairbanks County
- The candidate plant list — Alaska's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Alaska
- 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 Dot Lake's 188,790 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dot Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 188,790 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 5.6 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 Dot Lake-wide figureread your own land →