Ali Chuk, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with jalapeno, palo verde, date palm, and prickly pear — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Ali Chuk, 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 Ali Chuk 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 Ali Chuk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ali Chuk — the short answer
Ali Chuk, Arizona: USDA zone 9b, about 313 days between hard freezes, across 923 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Pima County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Pima County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~313
- Pima County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 923 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 Pima County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Ali Chuk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ali Chuk's 313-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ali Chuk
Each reading below is measured for Ali Chuk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAli Chuk runs about 313 days between hard freezes (read from Pima County, the closest normal to Ali Chuk) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAli Chuk sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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
The kind of country Ali Chuk is in
Ali Chuk sits in the Sonoran Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ali Chuk's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pima County.
What Grows in Ali Chuk
Plants matched to Ali Chuk's USDA zones 9b, 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 Ali Chuk?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Ali Chuk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ali Chuk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- C-18-03 34DAA1Nitrate · 550 ft
- C-18-03 34DAA2Nitrate · 600 ft
- C-17-03 36CABNitrate · 6.1 mi
- C-19-02 03ADDNitrate · 6.2 mi
- C-18-04 19AAC UNSURVNitrate · 9.3 mi
- C-17-03 06CCBNitrate · 9.4 mi
- C-17-03 17BBDNitrate · 9.6 mi
Measured from Ali Chuk'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 Ali Chuk.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ali Chuk
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Ali Chuk
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 Ali Chuk average
Your land is one point inside Ali Chuk
Everything above resolves to Ali Chuk as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 923 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pima County’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 Ali Chuk Average
Ali Chuk Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Ali Chuk
- ●One soil character for all of Ali Chuk
- ●Frost dates read at Ali Chuk's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ali Chuk's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ali Chuk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ali Chuk, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ali Chuk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ali Chuk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ali Chuk average
How we know this about Ali Chuk
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 Pima County’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 Ali Chuk
When does frost risk typically end in Ali Chuk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ali Chuk typically lands around Feb 3, 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 Feb 24.
When is the first frost in Ali Chuk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ali Chuk typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 313 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ali Chuk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ali Chuk sees about 313 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 29, about 278 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ali Chuk?
The federal record around Ali Chuk is light — 14 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (14), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 I protect my plants from frost in Ali Chuk?
From about Nov 13 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ali Chuk's scale — its 9b band and its 313-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ali Chuk'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 Ali Chuk’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Ali Chuk's own scale — the 923 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ali Chuk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ali Chuk, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ali Chuk's boundary and the 923 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Ali Chuk's own centroid, the Sonoran Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ali Chuk has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pima County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ali Chuk's 923 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pima County
- The candidate plant list — Arizona's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Arizona
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pima County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pima County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ali Chuk's 923 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ali Chuk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 923 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Ali Chuk-wide figureread your own land →
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