Chautauqua County, in New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Chautauqua County lies within the Lake Erie Grape Belt — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Chautauqua County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chautauqua County — the short answer
Chautauqua County, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 679K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 679K 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 6a is Chautauqua County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chautauqua County's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Chautauqua County
Across a year, Chautauqua County accumulates about 2,038 growing degree days above 50°F, about 198 fewer than the middle New York county — ahead of 19 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 Chautauqua County
Across Chautauqua County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Busti, Fremont, and Chautauqua are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat poorly drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3–5.8, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Somewhat poorly drained
Prime farmland
19%
Hydric soils
10%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Chautauqua County
The USDA soil survey maps 49% of Chautauqua County as somewhat poorly drained — but another 48% drains differently: 23% moderately well drained, 15% well drained.
Busti is the most extensive named soil at 18% of mapped acres, then Fremont (13%) and Chautauqua (13%).
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 Chautauqua County
Each reading below is measured for Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County are somewhat poorly drained, in hydrologic group C/D — 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 Chautauqua County runs about pH 5.3–5.8, 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
MeasuredChautauqua County runs about 193 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
MeasuredChautauqua County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Chautauqua County is in
Chautauqua County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Erie Drift Plain (88%) and Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands (11%). 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 Chautauqua County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Chautauqua County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 193-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 Chautauqua 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 Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Chautauqua County
Spotted lanternfly documented 19 miles from Chautauqua County, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle8 documented records
- monarch butterfly1,998 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Chautauqua County
USGS estimates 17,872 lb of Glyphosate on Chautauqua County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (8,800 lb) and Metolachlor-s (7,297 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 Chautauqua County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Chautauqua County — 1,018 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 13 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 Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County
Closest first, across Chautauqua County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY BRIDGE 178Brownfields · 2.0 mi
- CU2507Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- STOCKTON VARIETY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY BRIDGE 988 BIN 3325770Brownfields · 2.8 mi
- CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY BRIDGE 1001Brownfields · 2.9 mi
- LAKE ERIE STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- CU1766Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- NIAGARA MOHAWK POWER CORP A NATIONAL GRID CO HARTFIELD STATION 79Brownfields · 4.3 mi
- 0133 cell16Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- CHAUTAUQUA HILLTOP ORGANIC LLCCAFO · 4.4 mi
- COUNTRY AYRE FARMS LLCCAFO · 4.4 mi
- CROSBY'S - HEARTFIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County.
Total Sites
1,018
across Chautauqua County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
13 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Chautauqua County
Severity Distribution
across Chautauqua County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chautauqua County, two things run higher than the national average across Chautauqua County — CAFO (36 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (75 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County average
Your land is one point inside Chautauqua County
Everything above resolves to Chautauqua County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 679K 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 Chautauqua County Average
Chautauqua County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Chautauqua County
- ●One soil character for all of Chautauqua County
- ●Frost dates read at Chautauqua County's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chautauqua County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Chautauqua County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chautauqua County, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chautauqua County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chautauqua County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chautauqua County average
How we know this about Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Chautauqua County
When does frost risk typically end in Chautauqua County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chautauqua County typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
How long is the growing season in Chautauqua County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chautauqua County sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 16, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chautauqua County?
The federal record around Chautauqua County is a meaningful one — 1,018 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (440), the nearest Brownfields record about 2.0 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 Chautauqua County's scale — its 6a band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Chautauqua County's own scale — its own ~193-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 1,018 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chautauqua County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chautauqua County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Chautauqua CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 1,018 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 2.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Chautauqua County's boundary and the 678,662 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Chautauqua County spans, Erie Drift Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Chautauqua County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County — the ~193 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 Chautauqua County's 678,662 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 1,018 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 Chautauqua Countyread your own land →