Wapello County, in Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blueberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Wapello County lies within the Southeast Iowa / Great River Region (Mississippi–Des Moines river corner) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Wapello County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Wapello 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 Wapello County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wapello County — the short answer
Wapello County, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 205 days between hard freezes, across 276K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~205
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 276K 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 5b is Wapello County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wapello County's 205-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Wapello County
Across a year, Wapello County accumulates about 3,109 growing degree days above 50°F, about 365 more than the middle Iowa county — ahead of 89 of Iowa’s 99 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 Wapello County
Across Wapello County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Lindley, Weller, and Pershing are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a silty clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.9–6.5, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
22%
Hydric soils
20%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Wapello County
The USDA soil survey maps 35% of Wapello County as moderately well drained — but another 63% drains differently: 28% somewhat poorly drained, 21% poorly drained.
Lindley is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Weller (8%) and Pershing (7%).
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 Wapello County
Each reading below is measured for Wapello 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 Wapello 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 Wapello County runs about pH 5.9–6.5, 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 20% of Wapello 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
MeasuredWapello County runs about 205 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
The kind of country Wapello County is in
Wapello County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Central Irregular Plains (68%) and Western Corn Belt Plains (32%). 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 Wapello County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Wapello County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 205-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 Iowa profile.
Is it too late to plant in Wapello County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Wapello County
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Wapello County
USGS estimates 98,631 lb of Glyphosate on Wapello County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (85,850 lb) and Atrazine (78,043 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 Wapello County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Wapello County — 287 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites. 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 Wapello 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 Wapello County
Closest first, across Wapello County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OTTUMWA CEMETERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- COASTAL MART #1090Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- NW BELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- PENN & JEFF BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- TERRACE HILL PLAZA CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CITY OF OTTUMWA CENTRAL FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JOE'S RADIATOR SHOPBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- HERE & NOWUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WALGREENS #1301Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- OTTUMWA REGIONAL HEALTH CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ELLIOTT OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wapello 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 Wapello County.
Sources Checked
across Wapello County
Severity Distribution
across Wapello County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wapello County, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 18 sites across Wapello County. 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 Wapello 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 Wapello County average
Your land is one point inside Wapello County
Everything above resolves to Wapello County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 276K 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 Wapello County Average
Wapello County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Wapello County
- ●One soil character for all of Wapello County
- ●Frost dates read at Wapello County's scale: Apr 6 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wapello County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Wapello County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wapello County, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wapello County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wapello County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wapello County average
How we know this about Wapello 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 Wapello County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Wapello County
When does frost risk typically end in Wapello County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wapello County typically lands around Apr 6, 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 Apr 27.
How long is the growing season in Wapello County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wapello County sees about 205 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Oct 14, about 170 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wapello County?
The federal record around Wapello County is a meaningful one — 287 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (135), 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.
Everything above is measured at Wapello County's scale — its 5b band and its 205-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wapello 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 Iowa's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Wapello County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Wapello County's own scale — its own ~205-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 287 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wapello County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wapello County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~205-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Wapello CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 287 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Wapello County's boundary and the 276,382 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~205-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Wapello County spans, Central Irregular Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Wapello County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Wapello County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Wapello County — the ~205 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 Wapello County's 276,382 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 287 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 Wapello Countyread your own land →