Cattaraugus County, in New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Cattaraugus County lies within Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Cattaraugus County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cattaraugus County — the short answer
Cattaraugus County, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 837K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 837K 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 5b is Cattaraugus County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cattaraugus County's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Cattaraugus County
Across a year, Cattaraugus County accumulates about 1,818 growing degree days above 50°F, about 418 fewer than the middle New York county — ahead of 8 of New York’s 62 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 Cattaraugus County
Across Cattaraugus County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Volusia, Mardin, and Ischua are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.9, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
13%
Hydric soils
4%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Cattaraugus County
The USDA soil survey maps 38% of Cattaraugus County as moderately well drained — but another 60% drains differently: 28% well drained, 28% somewhat poorly drained.
Volusia is the most extensive named soil at 8% of mapped acres, then Mardin (7%) and Ischua (6%).
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 Cattaraugus County
Each reading below is measured for Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C/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 Cattaraugus County runs about pH 5.0–5.9, 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
MeasuredCattaraugus County runs about 156 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
MeasuredCattaraugus County sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Cattaraugus County is in
Cattaraugus County spans 3 EPA Level III ecoregions — North Central Appalachians (48%), Northern Allegheny Plateau (42%) and Erie Drift Plain (10%). 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 Cattaraugus County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Cattaraugus County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 156-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 New York profile.
Is it too late to plant in Cattaraugus County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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.
Documented around Cattaraugus County
Spotted lanternfly documented 18 miles from Cattaraugus County, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle5 documented records
- monarch butterfly70 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Cattaraugus County
USGS estimates 18,457 lb of Glyphosate on Cattaraugus County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (7,493 lb) and Metolachlor-s (6,542 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 Cattaraugus County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Cattaraugus County — 671 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 7 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Cattaraugus County carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Cattaraugus County
Closest first, across Cattaraugus County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CT 994Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- GREAT VALLEY STORAGE AREAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #6383Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- GREAT VALLEY RESIDENTIAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CT 242Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- ELLICOTTVILLE CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CT 245Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- HOLIDAY VALLEY RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- R&R TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- BJ'S STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- RAILROAD EASEMENT FORMERLYBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- SIGNORE INCToxics Release Inventory · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County.
Sources Checked
across Cattaraugus County
Severity Distribution
across Cattaraugus County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cattaraugus County, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 17 sites across Cattaraugus County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County average
Your land is one point inside Cattaraugus County
Everything above resolves to Cattaraugus County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 837K 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 Cattaraugus County Average
Cattaraugus County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Cattaraugus County
- ●One soil character for all of Cattaraugus County
- ●Frost dates read at Cattaraugus County's scale: May 8 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cattaraugus County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Cattaraugus County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cattaraugus County, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cattaraugus County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cattaraugus County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cattaraugus County average
How we know this about Cattaraugus 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 Cattaraugus County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Cattaraugus County
When does frost risk typically end in Cattaraugus County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cattaraugus County typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
How long is the growing season in Cattaraugus County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cattaraugus County sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 27, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cattaraugus County?
The federal record around Cattaraugus County runs heavier than most — 671 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (268), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.9 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.
Everything above is measured at Cattaraugus County's scale — its 5b band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cattaraugus 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 New York's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Cattaraugus County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Cattaraugus County's own scale — its own ~156-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 671 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cattaraugus County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cattaraugus County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Cattaraugus CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 671 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 0.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Cattaraugus County's boundary and the 837,236 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 3 ecoregions Cattaraugus County spans, North Central Appalachians the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Cattaraugus County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Cattaraugus County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Cattaraugus County — the ~156 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 Cattaraugus County's 837,236 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 671 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 Cattaraugus Countyread your own land →