Ochlocknee, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Ochlocknee, 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 Ochlocknee 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 Ochlocknee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ochlocknee — the short answer
Ochlocknee, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 593 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 9
- Thomas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Thomas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Thomas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 593 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 Thomas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ochlocknee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ochlocknee's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ochlocknee
Each reading below is measured for Ochlocknee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOchlocknee runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Thomas County, the closest normal to Ochlocknee) — 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
MeasuredOchlocknee sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Ochlocknee is in
Ochlocknee sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ochlocknee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Thomas County.
What Grows in Ochlocknee
Every plant below cleared Ochlocknee's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ochlocknee?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Ochlocknee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ochlocknee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- R & T AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GA DOT #10474Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- NOLES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HURST FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 13F022Nitrate · 1500 ft
- LEON HURSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- T & JS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SUSIE Q'S #5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- THOMAS CO BD OF EDUC-MAINT FAC/BUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GEORGIA NORTH PLANT (AKA OIL DRI OCHLOCKEE PLANT)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- GASSETT SERV STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- JAMES A CARTER ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ochlocknee'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 Ochlocknee.
Total Sites
116
within ~10 miles of Ochlocknee
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ochlocknee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ochlocknee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ochlocknee, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Ochlocknee. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Ochlocknee
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 Ochlocknee average
Your land is one point inside Ochlocknee
Everything above resolves to Ochlocknee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 593 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Thomas 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 Ochlocknee Average
Ochlocknee Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ochlocknee
- ●One soil character for all of Ochlocknee
- ●Frost dates read at Ochlocknee's scale: Feb 9 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ochlocknee's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ochlocknee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ochlocknee, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ochlocknee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ochlocknee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ochlocknee average
How we know this about Ochlocknee
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 Thomas 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 Ochlocknee
When does frost risk typically end in Ochlocknee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ochlocknee typically lands around Feb 9, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Ochlocknee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ochlocknee typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ochlocknee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ochlocknee sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 9 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 2 to Nov 26, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ochlocknee?
The federal record around Ochlocknee is a meaningful one — 116 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (70), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Ochlocknee?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ochlocknee's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ochlocknee'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 Ochlocknee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ochlocknee's own scale — the 593 acres it covers and 116 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ochlocknee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 116 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ochlocknee, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ochlocknee's boundary and the 593 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ochlocknee's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ochlocknee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Thomas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ochlocknee's 593 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Thomas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Thomas County
- The growing challenges every Georgia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Georgia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Thomas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ochlocknee's 593 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ochlocknee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 593 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 Ochlocknee-wide figureread your own land →
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