Whitley County, in Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Whitley County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Whitley 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 Whitley County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Whitley County — the short answer
Whitley County, Indiana: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 215K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 215K 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 6a is Whitley County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitley County's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Whitley County
Across a year, Whitley County accumulates about 2,801 growing degree days above 50°F, about 355 fewer than the middle Indiana county — ahead of 11 of Indiana’s 92 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 Whitley County
Across Whitley County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Morley, Blount, and Pewamo are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.4–6.5, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
22%
Hydric soils
29%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Whitley County
The USDA soil survey maps 38% of Whitley County as moderately well drained — but another 60% drains differently: 26% somewhat poorly drained, 23% very poorly drained.
Morley is the most extensive named soil at 25% of mapped acres, then Blount (19%) and Pewamo (13%).
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 Whitley County
Each reading below is measured for Whitley 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 Whitley County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Whitley County runs about pH 6.4–6.5, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 29% of Whitley County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWhitley County runs about 196 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
The kind of country Whitley County is in
Whitley County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Eastern Corn Belt Plains (91%) and Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains (9%). 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 Whitley County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Whitley County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 196-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 Indiana profile.
Is it too late to plant in Whitley County?
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 Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Whitley County
Spotted lanternfly documented 16 miles from Whitley County, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Whitley County
USGS estimates 127,514 lb of Glyphosate on Whitley County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (62,859 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (31,590 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 Whitley County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Whitley County — 179 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Whitley 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 Whitley County
Closest first, across Whitley County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FIBRE FORM CORPORATIONToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- FIBRE FORM CORPORATIONBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- JERRY WIGENT EXCAVATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- KC JONES PLATINGToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- KC JONES PLATINGBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- LAMBERT ENTERPRISES INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Wheeler MechanicalUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CITGO DeliUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- FORMER CARDINAL GRAINBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- UNITED OIL BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BOND-FLEX RUBBER CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whitley 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 Whitley County.
Sources Checked
across Whitley County
Severity Distribution
across Whitley County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whitley County, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 26 sites across Whitley County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Whitley 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 Whitley County average
Your land is one point inside Whitley County
Everything above resolves to Whitley County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 215K 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 Whitley County Average
Whitley County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Whitley County
- ●One soil character for all of Whitley County
- ●Frost dates read at Whitley County's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitley County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Whitley County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitley County, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitley County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitley County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitley County average
How we know this about Whitley 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 Whitley County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Whitley County
When does frost risk typically end in Whitley County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitley County typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
How long is the growing season in Whitley County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitley County sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 13, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitley County?
The federal record around Whitley County is a meaningful one — 179 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Whitley County's scale — its 6a band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitley 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 Indiana's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Whitley County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Whitley County's own scale — its own ~196-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 179 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitley County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitley County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Whitley CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 179 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Whitley County's boundary and the 214,798 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Whitley County spans, Eastern Corn Belt Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Whitley County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Indiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Indiana
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Whitley County — the ~196 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 Whitley County's 214,798 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 179 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 Whitley Countyread your own land →