Modoc, Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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.
Even in Modoc, 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 Modoc 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 Modoc — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Modoc — the short answer
Modoc, Indiana: USDA zone 6a, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 66 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 66 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 6a is Modoc's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Modoc's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Modoc
Each reading below is measured for Modoc itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredModoc runs about 193 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
MeasuredModoc sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Modoc is in
Modoc sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Modoc's own centroid rather than borrowed from Randolph County.
What Grows in Modoc
Every plant below cleared Modoc's own zone 6a and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Indiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Modoc?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Modoc
Survey cells within 31 miles of Modoc checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 63 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Modoc
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Modoc. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CLAYWELL BODYSHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- CLAYWELL BODYSHOPBrownfields · 400 ft
- HERMAN SHORE & SONS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FIBRE BODY INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- MODOC PIZZA PALACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- BVAS-23 MIAM NAWQA SUS WELL NR ECONOMY INNitrate · 2.7 mi
- NAWQA AG WELL TP11 AT HUNTSVILLE, INNitrate · 2.9 mi
- REEDS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- CROSSROADS MARATHON SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- INDIANA GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- INDIANA GAS COMPANY, INC. (VECTREN)Brownfields · 4.7 mi
- MOUNT PLEASANT CITCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Modoc'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 Modoc.
Total Sites
68
within ~10 miles of Modoc
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Modoc
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Modoc
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Modoc, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Modoc — Toxics Release Inventory (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (45 sites). 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Modoc
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 Modoc average
Your land is one point inside Modoc
Everything above resolves to Modoc as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 66 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 Modoc Average
Modoc Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Modoc
- ●One soil character for all of Modoc
- ●Frost dates read at Modoc's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Modoc's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Modoc
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Modoc, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Modoc averages can't show:
We read public map data around Modoc — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Modoc average
How we know this about Modoc
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 Modoc’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 Modoc
When does frost risk typically end in Modoc?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Modoc typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Modoc?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Modoc typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Modoc?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Modoc sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 8, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Modoc?
The federal record around Modoc is a meaningful one — 68 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Modoc?
From about Sep 22 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 Oct 22 (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 Oct 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Modoc's scale — its 6a band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Modoc'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 Modoc’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Modoc's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 66 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Modoc's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Modoc's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 22 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Modoc, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Modoc's boundary and the 66 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Modoc's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Modoc checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Modoc's 66 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Randolph County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Randolph County
- The growing challenges every Indiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Indiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Randolph County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Modoc's 66 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Modoc you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 66 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Modoc-wide figureread your own land →
More in Indiana
Wider growing context
What grows across IndianaModoc sits outside our named growing regions, so Indiana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides