Buckatunna, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Buckatunna, 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 Buckatunna 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 Buckatunna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Buckatunna — the short answer
Buckatunna, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 273 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- Wayne County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Wayne County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~273
- Wayne County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Wayne County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Buckatunna's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Buckatunna's 273-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Buckatunna
Each reading below is measured for Buckatunna itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBuckatunna runs about 273 days between hard freezes (read from Wayne County, the closest normal to Buckatunna) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBuckatunna sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Buckatunna is in
Buckatunna sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Buckatunna's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wayne County.
What Grows in Buckatunna
Every plant below cleared Buckatunna's own zone 8b and its 273-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Buckatunna?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Buckatunna
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Buckatunna. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wayne County Buckatunna SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Buckatunna GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Town & CountryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Bradley'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Clark's #3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Brown's Cash StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Progress Cash GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 153T0088 WAYNENitrate · 1.1 mi
- 153T0006 WAYNENitrate · 1.9 mi
- WAYNE FORD INCBrownfields · 5.9 mi
- 153U0004 WAYNENitrate · 7.1 mi
- Kelley Bros ContractorsUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Buckatunna'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 Buckatunna.
Total Sites
57
within ~10 miles of Buckatunna
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Buckatunna
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Buckatunna
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Buckatunna, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Buckatunna. 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 Buckatunna
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 Buckatunna average
Your land is one point inside Buckatunna
Everything above resolves to Buckatunna as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wayne County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 town 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 Buckatunna Average
Buckatunna Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Buckatunna
- ●One soil character for all of Buckatunna
- ●Frost dates read at Buckatunna's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Buckatunna's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Buckatunna
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Buckatunna, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Buckatunna averages can't show:
We read public map data around Buckatunna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Buckatunna average
How we know this about Buckatunna
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Wayne County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Buckatunna
When does frost risk typically end in Buckatunna?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Buckatunna typically lands around Feb 24, 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 Mar 17.
When is the first frost in Buckatunna?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Buckatunna typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 273 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Buckatunna?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Buckatunna sees about 273 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 10, about 238 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Buckatunna?
The federal record around Buckatunna shows 57 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Buckatunna?
From about Oct 25 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 Nov 24 (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 Nov 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Buckatunna's scale — its 8b band and its 273-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Buckatunna'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 Buckatunna’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Buckatunna's own scale — the 3,958 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Buckatunna's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Buckatunna, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Buckatunna's boundary and the 3,958 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~273-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Buckatunna's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Buckatunna has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wayne County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Buckatunna's 3,958 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wayne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wayne County
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Wayne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Buckatunna's 3,958 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Buckatunna you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,958 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles 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 Buckatunna-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiBuckatunna sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides