South Van Horn, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in South Van Horn, 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 South Van Horn 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 South Van Horn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Van Horn — the short answer
South Van Horn, Alaska: USDA zone 2a, about 114 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- Fairbanks North Star Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 7
- Fairbanks North Star Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~114
- Fairbanks North Star Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2a is South Van Horn's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Van Horn's 114-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Van Horn
Each reading below is measured for South Van Horn itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Van Horn runs about 114 days between hard freezes (read from Fairbanks North Star Borough, the closest normal to South Van Horn) — 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
MeasuredSouth Van Horn sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a.
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 South Van Horn
Plants matched to South Van Horn's USDA zones 2a, 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 South Van Horn?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 7 — 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 South Van Horn
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Van Horn. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Chris Berg, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BLOOM ENTERPRISES INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- ALUTIIQ FAIRBANKS FACILITYBrownfields · 1700 ft
- IRISH TRUCKINGBrownfields · 2100 ft
- RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE (FAIRBANKS)Brownfields · 2200 ft
- CARQUEST OF FAIRBANKS #4307Brownfields · 2300 ft
- EMERALD ALASKABrownfields · 2300 ft
- Western Mechanical Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Fairbanks Machine And SteelUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- UPS - NORTH POLE SPINBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Big Three Lincoln Alaska, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CONGER ROAD SITEToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Van Horn'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 South Van Horn.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Van Horn
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Van Horn
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Van Horn, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of South Van Horn — Nitrate (564 sites) and Superfund (20 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in South Van Horn
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 South Van Horn average
Your land is one point inside South Van Horn
Everything above resolves to South Van Horn as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fairbanks North Star Borough’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 South Van Horn Average
South Van Horn Average
- ●USDA Zones 2a, averaged across South Van Horn
- ●One soil character for all of South Van Horn
- ●Frost dates read at South Van Horn's scale: May 16 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Van Horn's 2a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Van Horn
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Van Horn, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Van Horn averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Van Horn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Van Horn average
How we know this about South Van Horn
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 Fairbanks North Star Borough’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 South Van Horn
When does frost risk typically end in South Van Horn?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Van Horn typically lands around May 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in South Van Horn?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Van Horn typically arrives around Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 24, so the watching starts about Aug 8 — about 114 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Van Horn?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Van Horn sees about 114 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Aug 24, about 79 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Van Horn?
The federal record around South Van Horn runs heavier than most — 1,135 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (564), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 South Van Horn?
With about 114 frost-free days between hard freezes, South Van Horn 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 142 to 170 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at South Van Horn's scale — its 2a band and its 114-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Van Horn'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 South Van Horn’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at South Van Horn's own scale — the 5,037 acres it covers and 1,135 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Van Horn's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,135 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Van Horn, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Van Horn's boundary and the 5,037 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Van Horn has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fairbanks North Star Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Van Horn's 5,037 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Van Horn's 5,037 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Van Horn you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,037 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 South Van Horn-wide figureread your own land →