South Daytona, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor mango, tomato, orange, and sweet potato, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Daytona, 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 Daytona 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 Daytona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Daytona — the short answer
South Daytona, Florida: USDA zone 10a, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Volusia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Volusia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~323
- Volusia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Volusia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is South Daytona's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Daytona's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Daytona
Each reading below is measured for South Daytona itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Daytona runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Volusia County, the closest normal to South Daytona) — 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
MeasuredSouth Daytona sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 South Daytona is in
South Daytona sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Daytona's own centroid rather than borrowed from Volusia County.
What Grows in South Daytona
Plants matched to South Daytona's USDA zones 10a, 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 Daytona?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 South Daytona
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Daytona. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #768Brownfields · 1400 ft
- PARIKHS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CHEVRON #47144-SUNSHINE MALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- AMOCO-MOESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- TEXACO-DAYTONA BCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- MCGEE TIRE STORESBrownfields · 2200 ft
- SOUTHNOVA AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 2500 ft
- SHELL-FIRST COAST ENERGY #2514Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- INTERNATIONAL COIN LAUNDRYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- JIM WEBBS PAINT & BODYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CHEVRON #47143Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CONRAD YELVINGTON DISTRIBUTORS INC BIG TREE FACILITYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Daytona'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 Daytona.
Total Sites
827
within ~10 miles of South Daytona
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Daytona
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Daytona
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •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 South Daytona
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 Daytona average
Your land is one point inside South Daytona
Everything above resolves to South Daytona as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Volusia County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Daytona Average
South Daytona Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across South Daytona
- ●One soil character for all of South Daytona
- ●Frost dates read at South Daytona's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Daytona's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Daytona
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Daytona, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Daytona averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Daytona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Daytona average
How we know this about South Daytona
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Volusia 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Daytona
When does frost risk typically end in South Daytona?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Daytona typically lands around Jan 29, 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 19.
When is the first frost in South Daytona?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Daytona typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 323 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Daytona?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Daytona sees about 323 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Dec 4, about 288 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Daytona?
The federal record around South Daytona is a meaningful one — 827 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (507), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in South Daytona?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Daytona's scale — its 10a band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Daytona'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 Daytona’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at South Daytona's own scale — the 2,369 acres it covers and 827 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Daytona's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 827 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Daytona, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Daytona's boundary and the 2,369 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at South Daytona's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Daytona has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Volusia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Daytona's 2,369 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Volusia County
- The candidate plant list — Florida's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Florida
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Volusia County
- The growing challenges every Florida grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Florida
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Volusia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Daytona's 2,369 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Daytona you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,369 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 South Daytona-wide figureread your own land →
More in Florida
Wider growing context
What grows across FloridaSouth Daytona sits outside our named growing regions, so Florida as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides