Chokio, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Chokio, 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 Chokio 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 Chokio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chokio — the short answer
Chokio, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 280 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 280 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 4b is Chokio's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chokio's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chokio
Each reading below is measured for Chokio itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChokio runs about 171 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
MeasuredChokio sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Chokio is in
Chokio sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Chokio's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stevens County.
What Grows in Chokio
Every plant below cleared Chokio's own zone 4b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chokio?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Chokio
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chokio. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ISD 771 CHOKIO ALBERTA SCHOOL BUS GARAGEBrownfields · 250 ft
- ISD 771 Chokio-Alberta SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- STEVE'S BODY SHOPBrownfields · 850 ft
- MARTYS SWINE SYSTEMS INC - WESTCAFO · 2.4 mi
- 125N43W28CDC 01 Frank JostNitrate · 4.9 mi
- 174615Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- Stevens County Highway Dept - Shop #2Underground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Tri-County Coop Oil - ChokioUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- The ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Mc Nally Bulk ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Brunkow FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- MARTYS SWINE SYSTEMS INC - EASTCAFO · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chokio'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 Chokio.
Total Sites
35
within ~10 miles of Chokio
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
5 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chokio
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chokio
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chokio, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Chokio — CAFO (5 sites) and Nitrate (12 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Chokio
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 Chokio average
Your land is one point inside Chokio
Everything above resolves to Chokio as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 280 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 city 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 Chokio Average
Chokio Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Chokio
- ●One soil character for all of Chokio
- ●Frost dates read at Chokio's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chokio's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chokio
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chokio, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chokio averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chokio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chokio average
How we know this about Chokio
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Chokio’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Chokio
When does frost risk typically end in Chokio?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chokio typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Chokio?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chokio typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chokio?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chokio sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 26, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chokio?
The federal record around Chokio is light — 35 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Chokio?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chokio's scale — its 4b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chokio'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 Chokio’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Chokio's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 280 acres it covers and 35 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chokio's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chokio's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 10 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 35 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chokio, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chokio's boundary and the 280 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chokio's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chokio's 280 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stevens County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stevens County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Stevens County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chokio's 280 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chokio you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 280 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Chokio-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaChokio sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides