Copiah County, in Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Copiah County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Copiah 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 Copiah County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Copiah County — the short answer
Copiah County, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 497K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 497K 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 8b is Copiah County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Copiah County's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Copiah County
Across a year, Copiah County accumulates about 5,714 growing degree days above 50°F, about 316 more than the middle Mississippi county — ahead of 59 of Mississippi’s 82 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.
Winter banks about 896 hours below 45°F, 296 fewer than the Mississippi middle of 1,192. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Copiah County
Across Copiah County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Smithdale, Providence, and Gillsburg are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
31%
Hydric soils
4%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Copiah County
The USDA soil survey maps 53% of Copiah County as moderately well drained — but another 46% drains differently: 30% well drained, 13% somewhat poorly drained.
Smithdale is the most extensive named soil at 21% of mapped acres, then Providence (19%) and Gillsburg (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 Copiah County
Each reading below is measured for Copiah 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 Copiah County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Copiah County runs about pH 5.0–5.3, 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
MeasuredCopiah County runs about 281 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredCopiah County 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 Copiah County is in
Copiah County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Mississippi Valley Loess Plains (94%) and Southeastern Plains (6%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Copiah County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Copiah County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 281-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 Mississippi profile.
Is it too late to plant in Copiah 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 Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Copiah County
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Copiah County
USGS estimates 5,124 lb of 2,4-d on Copiah County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (4,431 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (1,458 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 Copiah County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Copiah County — 182 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (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 Copiah 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 Copiah County
Closest first, across Copiah County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Country InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- EXXON COMPANY USA, HAZLEHURST STATIONBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- BlueSky #493Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- 029P0062 COPIAHNitrate · 2.4 mi
- TOWN OF HAZLEHURSTPFAS · 2.4 mi
- SANDERSON FARMS, INCPFAS · 2.4 mi
- Phillips 66 Food PlazaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- WAL MART SUPERCENTER NUMBER 954 02Brownfields · 2.5 mi
- Murphy Express # 8548Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- Lake Hazle Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #1433Brownfields · 2.6 mi
- Piggly WigglyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Copiah 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 Copiah County.
Total Sites
182
across Copiah County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Copiah County
Severity Distribution
across Copiah County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Copiah County, two things run higher than the national average across Copiah County — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (16 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Copiah 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 Copiah County average
Your land is one point inside Copiah County
Everything above resolves to Copiah County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 497K 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 Copiah County Average
Copiah County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Copiah County
- ●One soil character for all of Copiah County
- ●Frost dates read at Copiah County's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Copiah County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Copiah County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Copiah County, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Copiah County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Copiah County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Copiah County average
How we know this about Copiah 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 Copiah County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Copiah County
When does frost risk typically end in Copiah County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Copiah County typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
How long is the growing season in Copiah County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Copiah County sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 11, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Copiah County?
The federal record around Copiah County is a meaningful one — 182 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Copiah County's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Copiah 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 Mississippi's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Copiah County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Copiah County's own scale — its own ~281-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 182 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Copiah County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Copiah County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~281-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Copiah CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 182 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Copiah County's boundary and the 497,462 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Copiah County spans, Mississippi Valley Loess Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Copiah County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Copiah County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Copiah County — the ~281 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 Copiah County's 497,462 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 182 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 Copiah Countyread your own land →