Panaca, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, 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 Panaca, 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 Panaca 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 Panaca — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Panaca — the short answer
Panaca, Nevada: USDA zone 6b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 6b is Panaca's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Panaca's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Panaca
Each reading below is measured for Panaca itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPanaca runs about 170 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
MeasuredPanaca sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Panaca is in
Panaca sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Panaca's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Panaca
Every plant below cleared Panaca's own zone 6b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Panaca?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Panaca
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Panaca. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Acoma Station-Milepost 484 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- McCroskys ""y"" ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- NDOT-PanacaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Dist 5 Hdq-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Lincoln County School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Panaca AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Independence MineMining · 6.1 mi
- Blue Queen ClaimsMining · 6.5 mi
- 203 S03 E67 14ACAB1Nitrate · 7.3 mi
- Acme MinesMining · 7.9 mi
- NBMG Sample Site 798Mining · 8.4 mi
- Unnamed ShaftMining · 8.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Panaca'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 Panaca.
Total Sites
114
within ~10 miles of Panaca
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Panaca
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Panaca
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Panaca, Mining runs higher than the national average — 103 sites within ~10 miles of Panaca. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Panaca
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 Panaca average
Your land is one point inside Panaca
Everything above resolves to Panaca as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 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 Panaca Average
Panaca Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Panaca
- ●One soil character for all of Panaca
- ●Frost dates read at Panaca's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Panaca's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Panaca
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Panaca, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Panaca averages can't show:
We read public map data around Panaca — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Panaca average
How we know this about Panaca
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 Panaca’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 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 Panaca
When does frost risk typically end in Panaca?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Panaca typically lands around Apr 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 May 19.
When is the first frost in Panaca?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Panaca typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Panaca?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Panaca sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 1, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Panaca?
The federal record around Panaca runs heavier than most — 114 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (103), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Panaca?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Panaca's scale — its 6b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Panaca'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 Panaca’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Panaca's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,971 acres it covers and 114 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Panaca's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Panaca's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 15 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 114 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Panaca, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Panaca's boundary and the 1,971 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Panaca's own centroid, the Central Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Panaca's 1,971 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln County
- The growing challenges every Nevada grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nevada
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Panaca's 1,971 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Panaca you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,971 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Panaca-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nevada
Wider growing context
What grows across NevadaPanaca sits outside our named growing regions, so Nevada as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides