Oneida County, in Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Oneida County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Oneida County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Oneida County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Oneida County — the short answer
Oneida County, Idaho: USDA zone 6b, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 767K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~167
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 767K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 6b is Oneida County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oneida County's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Oneida County
Across a year, Oneida County accumulates about 1,905 growing degree days above 50°F, about 414 more than the middle Idaho county — ahead of 31 of Idaho’s 44 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Oneida County
Across Oneida County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Povey, Bayhook, and Parleys are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Oneida County
The USDA soil survey maps 89% of Oneida County as well drained — but another 11% drains differently: 7% moderately well drained, 3% poorly drained.
Povey is the most extensive named soil at 6% of mapped acres, then Bayhook (5%) and Parleys (5%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Oneida County
Each reading below is measured for Oneida County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Oneida County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Oneida County runs about pH 7.0–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredOneida County runs about 167 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredOneida County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Oneida County is in
Oneida County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Northern Basin and Range (76%) and Central Basin and Range (24%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Oneida County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Oneida County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 167-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile.
Is it too late to plant in Oneida County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What gets applied to farmland in Oneida County
USGS estimates 28,699 lb of Glyphosate on Oneida County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (20,582 lb) and Bromoxynil (2,114 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Oneida County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Oneida County — 256 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 concentrated animal feeding operations. Large-scale animal operations that can contaminate soil and groundwater with nitrates and pathogens.
There's a meaningful federal record across Oneida County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Oneida County
Closest first, across Oneida County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 14S 33E 22DCC1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- 15S 36E 10BCB1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- 14S 33E 10AAB1Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- 15S 34E 16CCC1Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 14S 33E 33CCD1Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 14S 33E 16BBB1Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 15S 33E 05ADD1Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- 15S 33E 05ADC1Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- 15S 34E 22DDD1Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 14S 33E 31ABC1Nitrate · 6.4 mi
- 14S 33E 31BD 3Nitrate · 6.5 mi
- 14S 33E 31ACC1Nitrate · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oneida County'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 Oneida County.
Total Sites
256
across Oneida County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
across Oneida County
Severity Distribution
across Oneida County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oneida County, two things run higher than the national average across Oneida County — Nitrate (228 sites) and CAFO (3 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.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Oneida County
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 Oneida County average
Your land is one point inside Oneida County
Everything above resolves to Oneida County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 767K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Oneida County Average
Oneida County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Oneida County
- ●One soil character for all of Oneida County
- ●Frost dates read at Oneida County's scale: May 1 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oneida County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Oneida County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oneida County, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oneida County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oneida County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oneida County average
How we know this about Oneida County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Oneida County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Oneida County
When does frost risk typically end in Oneida County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oneida County typically lands around May 1, 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 May 22.
How long is the growing season in Oneida County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oneida County sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 1, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oneida County?
The federal record around Oneida County is a meaningful one — 256 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (228), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.4 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.
Everything above is measured at Oneida County's scale — its 6b band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oneida County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Idaho's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Oneida County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Oneida County's own scale — its own ~167-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 256 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oneida County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oneida County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Oneida CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 256 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 3.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Oneida County's boundary and the 767,328 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~167-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Oneida County spans, Northern Basin and Range the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Oneida County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Idaho grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Idaho
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Oneida County — the ~167 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oneida County's 767,328 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 256 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Oneida Countyread your own land →