The Lake Erie Grape Belt spans USDA hardiness zones 6a-7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A lake-moderated ribbon along the southern shore of Lake Erie from Chautauqua County, New York into Erie County, Pennsylvania — the oldest and largest Concord grape belt in the world — where the lake stretches the frost-free season to roughly 193–226 days across USDA zones 6a–7a. Growers here do well with kale, tomato, garlic, and lilac — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
The Lake Erie Grape Belt spans New York and Pennsylvania.
Your yard isn't all of the Lake Erie Grape Belt.
The Lake Erie Grape Belt spans USDA zones 6a-7a, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Lake Erie Grape Belt — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The Lake Erie Grape Belt — the short answer
The Lake Erie Grape Belt: USDA zones 6a-7a, 193–226 frost-free days depending where in it you stand, across 2 states.
- USDA zones
- 6a-7a
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Shortest season here
- 193 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020 — Chautauqua County
- Counties
- 2
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- County cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. The season figure is this region's own record, measured across its 2 member counties, not a state or national average.
Hardiness Zone Range
The Lake Erie Grape Belt is not one growing season
One answer for the Lake Erie Grape Belt averages 2 counties whose growing seasons are 33 days apart — from 193 frost-free days in Chautauqua County to 226 in Erie County. That is the same region, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your land sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 2 counties runs 201–218 days, with a median of 210 days — a 33-day span end to end.
Measured across 2 member counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. A member with no own record is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the region. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where the line runs inside the Lake Erie Grape Belt
The middle half of the Lake Erie Grape Belt runs 201–218 frost-free days, and 2 of its 2 counties sit outside that — 1 on the short side, 1 on the long. A regional planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 201 frost-free days
1 county
- Chautauqua County · 193 days
The end of the region that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
Over 218 frost-free days
1 county
- Erie County · 226 days
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its OWN 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a site within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
What Grows in the Lake Erie Grape Belt
All 2 of the plants below that publish a season requirement clear even Chautauqua County’s 193 frost-free days — so on season alone, this grid works at both ends of the region. The 33-day spread still decides how far past this list you can push, and how early you can start.
Plants matched to the Lake Erie Grape Belt's USDA zones 6a-7a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the Lake Erie Grape Belt
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in all 2 states this region crosses, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the Lake Erie Grape Belt’s USDA zones 6a-7a — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground across the Lake Erie Grape Belt
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across two member counties — this region’s own profile, not a state figure.
The ground is predominantly Inceptisols, at 73% of mapped acres, followed by Alfisols (23%), Entisols (3%) and Mollisols (1%). Five soil orders appear somewhere inside the footprint, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Venango, Busti, and Fremont.
47% of those acres are somewhat poorly drained, and another 21% moderately well drained, 12% well drained. Topsoil pH runs 5.0–5.8 between the lowest and the highest county on record. 16% of the footprint is classed prime farmland.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Somewhat poorly drained
Topsoil pH
5.0–5.8
Hydric soils
14%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Erie County holds the most wetland ground here, at 21% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the Lake Erie Grape Belt
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are those records summed across the Lake Erie Grape Belt. Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records47% of the mapped acres across the Lake Erie Grape Belt are somewhat poorly drained — ground that sheds water slowly. That is area-weighted across all two of its mapped counties.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the Lake Erie Grape Belt runs pH 5.0–5.8 — acidic in all two of them.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the Lake Erie Grape Belt — and how to grow with it.
Across the Lake Erie Grape Belt's 2 counties the federal record holds 2,665 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks (1,115), Brownfields (937) and Nitrate (322). The heaviest single county is Erie County, with 1,647.
That is a regional count, not a reading of any one lot — proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis. Open the map outlined to the Lake Erie Grape Belt to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 2 counties in the Lake Erie Grape Belt
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the Lake Erie Grape Belt, two things run higher than the national average across the 2 counties in the Lake Erie Grape Belt — CAFO (38 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (214 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the Lake Erie Grape Belt
Everything above resolves to the Lake Erie Grape Belt as a whole — a footprint whose own counties record seasons 33 days apart, and hardiness across zones 6a-7a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the Lake Erie Grape Belt Average
Lake Erie Grape Belt Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a-7a, averaged across Lake Erie Grape Belt
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Erie Grape Belt
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Erie Grape Belt's 6a-7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the Lake Erie Grape Belt
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the Lake Erie Grape Belt — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Erie Grape Belt averages can't show:
We read public map data around The Lake Erie Grape Belt — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Erie Grape Belt average
How we know this about the Lake Erie Grape Belt
The boundary: a cluster of neighboring counties. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the counties inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the Lake Erie Grape Belt
What hardiness zone is the Lake Erie Grape Belt?
The Lake Erie Grape Belt spans USDA hardiness zones 6a-7a, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's counties. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the Lake Erie Grape Belt?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the Lake Erie Grape Belt's counties mostly run 201 to 218 frost-free days, median 210 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 2 member counties). That 17-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 2 counties, and each county guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the Lake Erie Grape Belt?
Across the Lake Erie Grape Belt, the middle half of member counties see their last 28°F hard freeze between Apr 12 and Apr 17 (median Apr 15), and their first fall freeze between Nov 5 and Nov 16. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about May 6, and elevation decides which end of a 5-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the Lake Erie Grape Belt?
The Lake Erie Grape Belt's conditions suit plants such as Kale, Tomato, Garlic, Lilac, Apple, Sugar Maple. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the Lake Erie Grape Belt defined?
The Lake Erie Grape Belt is defined here as a curated cluster of 2 neighboring counties that share a growing character. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one — every county in it is named on this page.
Which states does the Lake Erie Grape Belt cover?
The Lake Erie Grape Belt spans New York and Pennsylvania. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Appalachia, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Champlain Valley, Mohawk Valley, and The Adirondacks share at least one state with the Lake Erie Grape Belt. Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the Lake Erie Grape Belt’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the Lake Erie Grape Belt's own scale — the zone 6a-7a band across its footprint, a median 210-day season across its 2 counties and 2,665 documented federal contamination records across its 2 counties, 1,647 of them in Erie County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 6a-7a aggregated across all 2 counties in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 2 counties this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 2 counties run 201 to 218 frost-free days, median 210NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 2,665 documented federal contamination records across its 2 counties, 1,647 of them in Erie County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 73% Inceptisols, topsoil pH 5.0–5.8, area-weighted across its 2 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — all 2 member states' curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 6a-7afrom New York and Pennsylvania
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 17-day range your ground sits at — 201 days at one extreme, 218 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the Lake Erie Grape Belt
State growing guides
Counties in this region
Other growing regions across New York and Pennsylvania
The vast eastern mountain region of steep hollows, thin acidic soils, and short upland seasons — apples, brambles, ramps, and forest crops on hard-won ground. (Union of the core Appalachian ecoregions.)
Deep glacial lakes moderate New York's premier cool-climate wine region, where lake-effect slopes favour grapes, apples, and other tree fruit.
The Hudson River corridor's fertile valley floors and benched hillsides have grown orchards, vineyards, and market vegetables since the colonial era.
The lake-tempered lowland on both shores of Lake Champlain — clay and silt plains that make the warmest, driest, and most productive farm ground in Vermont, with apple and cold-climate wine country on the New York shore.
New York's east–west Mohawk River corridor, where cold 4a highland gives way to milder 5b valley-floor farmland across a roughly 168-day median frost-free season (last frost near the end of April, first frost around mid-October).
New York's vast northern mountain wilderness — very cold winters, thin acidic soils, and the state's shortest growing seasons.