Steuben County, in New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Steuben County lies within the Finger Lakes — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Steuben County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Steuben 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 Steuben County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Steuben County — the short answer
Steuben County, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 890K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 890K 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 Steuben County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Steuben County's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Steuben County
Across a year, Steuben County accumulates about 1,926 growing degree days above 50°F, about 310 fewer than the middle New York county — ahead of 13 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 Steuben County
Across Steuben County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Volusia, Mardin, and Arnot are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.5–6.2, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
12%
Hydric soils
5%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Steuben County
The USDA soil survey maps 34% of Steuben County as well drained — but another 65% drains differently: 32% somewhat poorly drained, 24% moderately well drained.
Volusia is the most extensive named soil at 23% of mapped acres, then Mardin (21%) and Arnot (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 Steuben County
Each reading below is measured for Steuben 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 Steuben County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Steuben County runs about pH 5.5–6.2, 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
MeasuredSteuben County runs about 160 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
MeasuredSteuben 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 Steuben County is in
Steuben County sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Steuben County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Steuben County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 160-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 Steuben County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Steuben County
Spotted lanternfly documented 18 miles from Steuben County, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle3 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Steuben County
USGS estimates 37,502 lb of Glyphosate on Steuben County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (25,593 lb) and Metolachlor-s (22,231 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 Steuben County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Steuben County — 793 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 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 Steuben 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 Steuben County
Closest first, across Steuben County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WILKINS DAIRY FARMCAFO · 2.6 mi
- RODNEY R ESTESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- SB1447Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- SB1066Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- LEO DICKSON & SONSCAFO · 3.4 mi
- TOWN OF CAMERONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- STEUBEN COUNTY DPWUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- ADDISON CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- STEUBEN CO OLD CAMERON MILLS BRG SHOPBrownfields · 5.2 mi
- SB 399Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- SB 391Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 1061472Brownfields · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Steuben 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 Steuben County.
Total Sites
793
across Steuben County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Steuben County
Severity Distribution
across Steuben County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Steuben County, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 28 sites across Steuben County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Steuben 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 Steuben County average
Your land is one point inside Steuben County
Everything above resolves to Steuben County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 890K 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 Steuben County Average
Steuben County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Steuben County
- ●One soil character for all of Steuben County
- ●Frost dates read at Steuben County's scale: May 5 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Steuben County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Steuben County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Steuben County, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Steuben County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Steuben County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Steuben County average
How we know this about Steuben 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 Steuben County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Steuben County
When does frost risk typically end in Steuben County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Steuben County typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
How long is the growing season in Steuben County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Steuben County sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 28, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Steuben County?
The federal record around Steuben County is a meaningful one — 793 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (322), the nearest CAFO record about 2.6 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 Steuben County's scale — its 5b band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Steuben 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 Steuben County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Steuben County's own scale — its own ~160-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 793 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Steuben County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Steuben County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Steuben CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 793 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest CAFO record about 2.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Steuben County's boundary and the 889,925 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Steuben County sitting wholly inside the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Steuben County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Steuben 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 Steuben County — the ~160 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 Steuben County's 889,925 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 793 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 Steuben Countyread your own land →