Oktibbeha County, in Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Oktibbeha County lies within the Black Belt — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Oktibbeha County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Oktibbeha County — the short answer
Oktibbeha County, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 293K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 293K 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 8a is Oktibbeha County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oktibbeha County's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Oktibbeha County
Across a year, Oktibbeha County accumulates about 5,174 growing degree days above 50°F, about 224 fewer than the middle Mississippi county — ahead of 25 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 1,391 hours below 45°F, 199 more 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 Oktibbeha County
Across Oktibbeha County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Longview, Mathiston, and Kipling are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat poorly drained with a silty clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.5, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Somewhat poorly drained
Prime farmland
40%
Hydric soils
5%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Oktibbeha County
The USDA soil survey maps 53% of Oktibbeha County as somewhat poorly drained — but another 45% drains differently: 29% moderately well drained, 12% well drained.
Longview is the most extensive named soil at 10% of mapped acres, then Mathiston (9%) and Kipling (8%).
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 Oktibbeha County
Each reading below is measured for Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County are somewhat poorly drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Oktibbeha County runs about pH 5.0–5.5, 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
MeasuredOktibbeha County runs about 269 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
MeasuredOktibbeha County sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Oktibbeha County is in
Oktibbeha County sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Oktibbeha County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Oktibbeha County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 269-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 Oktibbeha County?
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 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Oktibbeha County
- monarch butterfly15 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Oktibbeha County
USGS estimates 18,856 lb of Glyphosate on Oktibbeha County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (14,490 lb) and Dicamba (2,724 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 Oktibbeha County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Oktibbeha County — 203 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County
Closest first, across Oktibbeha County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BUDDY MCCLELLAND BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- Sprint Mart #4147 New LightUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Starkville Airport Bryan FieldUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Msu Raspet Flight Research LabUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #1604Brownfields · 2.0 mi
- SOUTHWIRE COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- SOUTHWIRE COMPANYBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- Muprhy USA #6674Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- JOE HUDSON'S COLLISION CENTER - STARKVILLEBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #112Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- Petty GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- GULF STATES MANUFACTURERSBrownfields · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County.
Total Sites
203
across Oktibbeha County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Oktibbeha County
Severity Distribution
across Oktibbeha County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oktibbeha County, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites across Oktibbeha County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County average
Your land is one point inside Oktibbeha County
Everything above resolves to Oktibbeha County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 293K 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 Oktibbeha County Average
Oktibbeha County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Oktibbeha County
- ●One soil character for all of Oktibbeha County
- ●Frost dates read at Oktibbeha County's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oktibbeha County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Oktibbeha County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oktibbeha County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oktibbeha County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oktibbeha County average
How we know this about Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Oktibbeha County
When does frost risk typically end in Oktibbeha County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oktibbeha County typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
How long is the growing season in Oktibbeha County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oktibbeha County sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 10, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oktibbeha County?
The federal record around Oktibbeha County is a meaningful one — 203 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (122), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Oktibbeha County's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Oktibbeha County's own scale — its own ~269-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 203 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oktibbeha County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oktibbeha County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~269-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Oktibbeha CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 203 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Oktibbeha County's boundary and the 292,880 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Oktibbeha County sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Oktibbeha County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County — the ~269 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 Oktibbeha County's 292,880 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 203 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 Oktibbeha Countyread your own land →