Chippewa County, in Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Chippewa County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Chippewa 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 Chippewa County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chippewa County — the short answer
Chippewa County, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 372K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 372K 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 4b is Chippewa County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chippewa County's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Chippewa County
Across a year, Chippewa County accumulates about 2,366 growing degree days above 50°F, about 101 more than the middle Minnesota county — ahead of 58 of Minnesota’s 87 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 Chippewa County
Across Chippewa County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Bearden, Quam, and Tara are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silty clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B/D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
65%
Hydric soils
35%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Chippewa County
The USDA soil survey maps 25% of Chippewa County as well drained — but another 73% drains differently: 24% somewhat poorly drained, 22% moderately well drained.
Bearden is the most extensive named soil at 17% of mapped acres, then Quam (12%) and Tara (10%).
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 Chippewa County
Each reading below is measured for Chippewa 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 Chippewa County are well drained, in hydrologic group B/D — 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 Chippewa County runs about pH 7.0–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 35% of Chippewa 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
MeasuredChippewa County runs about 176 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
The kind of country Chippewa County is in
Chippewa County sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Chippewa County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Chippewa County's own USDA zone 4b and its own 176-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 Minnesota profile.
Is it too late to plant in Chippewa County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Chippewa County
USGS estimates 278,444 lb of Glyphosate on Chippewa County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (99,786 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (91,493 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 Chippewa County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Chippewa County — 207 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed). 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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa County
Closest first, across Chippewa County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Cargill Inc Feed MillUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Fertilizer Plant Amoco Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- 118N-39W-34 DCCCBBNitrate · 3.6 mi
- 553962Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 505727Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- STAK'D PORK LLCCAFO · 4.7 mi
- GRACE DAIRYCAFO · 5.0 mi
- Cargill IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- LUTHER HAVENBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- RUNNINGS FARM & FLEETBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- MONTEVIDEO FARMS INCCAFO · 5.5 mi
- SUNDLEE PORK INCCAFO · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chippewa 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 Chippewa County.
Total Sites
207
across Chippewa County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Chippewa County
Severity Distribution
across Chippewa County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chippewa County, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 14 sites across Chippewa County. 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.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Chippewa 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 Chippewa County average
Your land is one point inside Chippewa County
Everything above resolves to Chippewa County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 372K 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 Chippewa County Average
Chippewa County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Chippewa County
- ●One soil character for all of Chippewa County
- ●Frost dates read at Chippewa County's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chippewa County's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Chippewa County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chippewa County, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chippewa County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chippewa County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chippewa County average
How we know this about Chippewa 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 Chippewa County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Chippewa County
When does frost risk typically end in Chippewa County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chippewa County typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
How long is the growing season in Chippewa County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chippewa County sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Sep 29, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chippewa County?
The federal record around Chippewa County is a meaningful one — 207 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles 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 Chippewa County's scale — its 4b band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chippewa 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 Minnesota's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Chippewa County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Chippewa County's own scale — its own ~176-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 207 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chippewa County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chippewa County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Chippewa CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 207 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Chippewa County's boundary and the 371,984 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Chippewa County sitting wholly inside the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Chippewa County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Chippewa County — the ~176 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 Chippewa County's 371,984 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 207 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 Chippewa Countyread your own land →