Kalkaska County, in Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Kalkaska County lies within the Northern Lower Michigan ("Up North") — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Kalkaska County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kalkaska County — the short answer
Kalkaska County, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 358K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 358K 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 5a is Kalkaska County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kalkaska County's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Kalkaska County
Across a year, Kalkaska County accumulates about 1,748 growing degree days above 50°F, about 352 fewer than the middle Michigan county — ahead of 16 of Michigan’s 83 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 Kalkaska County
Across Kalkaska County, the ground is predominantly Spodosols, where Islandlake, Rubicon, and Kalkaska are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat excessively drained with a sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.8–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Spodosols
Drainage
Somewhat excessively drained
Prime farmland
2%
Hydric soils
14%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Kalkaska County
The USDA soil survey maps 48% of Kalkaska County as somewhat excessively drained — but another 50% drains differently: 23% excessively drained, 13% very poorly drained.
Islandlake is the most extensive named soil at 24% of mapped acres, then Rubicon (18%) and Kalkaska (11%).
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 Kalkaska County
Each reading below is measured for Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County are somewhat excessively drained, in hydrologic group A — 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 Kalkaska County runs about pH 4.8–5.3, on the acidic side.
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
Season length
MeasuredKalkaska County runs about 150 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
MeasuredKalkaska County sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Kalkaska County is in
Kalkaska County sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Kalkaska County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Kalkaska County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 150-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 Michigan profile.
Is it too late to plant in Kalkaska County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Kalkaska County
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly19 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Kalkaska County
USGS estimates 3,107 lb of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s on Kalkaska County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (1,895 lb) and Metolachlor (1,692 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 Kalkaska County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Kalkaska County — 171 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Kalkaska County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Kalkaska County
Closest first, across Kalkaska County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Centel Cable-kalkaska HeadendUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- 27N 06W 29BA01 KALKASKA CO (79 EXCELSIOR 1)Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- R.l. Morris & Sons Constr. CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Kalkaska Fishing Rental Tools InUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Mckenzie CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- L.d. Hotshot Services, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- MAINTENANCE CONTRACTINGBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- East Lake General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- Dar-way, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- Building Components UltdUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- Kalkaska Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- 42 DEGREES PROCESSING, LLCBrownfields · 5.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County.
Total Sites
171
across Kalkaska County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Kalkaska County
Severity Distribution
across Kalkaska County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kalkaska County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 106 sites across Kalkaska County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County average
Your land is one point inside Kalkaska County
Everything above resolves to Kalkaska County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 358K 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 Kalkaska County Average
Kalkaska County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Kalkaska County
- ●One soil character for all of Kalkaska County
- ●Frost dates read at Kalkaska County's scale: May 12 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kalkaska County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Kalkaska County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kalkaska County, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kalkaska County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kalkaska County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kalkaska County average
How we know this about Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Kalkaska County
When does frost risk typically end in Kalkaska County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kalkaska County typically lands around May 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 Jun 2.
How long is the growing season in Kalkaska County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kalkaska County sees about 150 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 25, about 115 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kalkaska County?
The federal record around Kalkaska County shows 171 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (106), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Kalkaska County's scale — its 5a band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kalkaska 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 Michigan's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Kalkaska County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Kalkaska County's own scale — its own ~150-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 171 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kalkaska County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kalkaska County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Kalkaska CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 171 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Kalkaska County's boundary and the 358,236 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Kalkaska County sitting wholly inside the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Kalkaska County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Kalkaska County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Michigan grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Michigan
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Kalkaska County — the ~150 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 Kalkaska County's 358,236 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 171 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 Kalkaska Countyread your own land →