Wautec, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Wautec, 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 Wautec 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 Wautec — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wautec — the short answer
Wautec, California: USDA zone 9b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 9b is Wautec's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wautec's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wautec
Each reading below is measured for Wautec itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWautec runs about 288 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredWautec 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 Wautec is in
Wautec sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Wautec's own centroid rather than borrowed from Humboldt County.
What Grows in Wautec
Every plant below cleared Wautec's own zone 9b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wautec?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Wautec
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wautec. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UnknownMining · 4.3 mi
- East ForkMining · 4.6 mi
- White CedarMining · 4.7 mi
- Pecwan Mine Englebright, New MonMining · 4.7 mi
- Pecwan MineMining · 4.7 mi
- Onion Mountain ProspectMining · 6.1 mi
- TUTOR SALIBA PERINIBrownfields · 6.6 mi
- ORICK TOWN SITEBrownfields · 6.6 mi
- H.A. BLANKENSHIP TRUCKINGBrownfields · 6.7 mi
- South Red MountainMining · 8.0 mi
- Unnamed LocationMining · 8.1 mi
- Spike Camp Chrome No.1Mining · 8.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wautec'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 Wautec.
Total Sites
24
within ~10 miles of Wautec
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wautec
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Wautec
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 Wautec average
Your land is one point inside Wautec
Everything above resolves to Wautec as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 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 Wautec Average
Wautec Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Wautec
- ●One soil character for all of Wautec
- ●Frost dates read at Wautec's scale: Feb 24 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wautec's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wautec
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wautec, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wautec averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wautec — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wautec average
How we know this about Wautec
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 Wautec’s own record; 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 Wautec
When does frost risk typically end in Wautec?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wautec typically lands around Feb 24, 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 Mar 17.
When is the first frost in Wautec?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wautec typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wautec?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wautec sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 25, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wautec?
The federal record around Wautec is light — 24 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (18), the nearest Mining record about 4.3 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 Wautec?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wautec's scale — its 9b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wautec'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 Wautec’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wautec's own scale — its own ~288-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,476 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wautec's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wautec's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 24 and Dec 9 and the ~288-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wautec, the closest Mining record about 4.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wautec's boundary and the 1,476 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wautec's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wautec's 1,476 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Humboldt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Humboldt County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Humboldt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wautec's 1,476 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wautec you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,476 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 4.3 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 Wautec-wide figureread your own land →
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