Hornell, 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.
Even in Hornell, 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 Hornell 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 Hornell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hornell — the short answer
Hornell, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 5b is Hornell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hornell's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hornell
Each reading below is measured for Hornell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHornell runs about 162 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
MeasuredHornell 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 Hornell is in
Hornell sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hornell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Steuben County.
What Grows in Hornell
Every plant below cleared Hornell's own zone 5b and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hornell?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 14 — 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 Hornell
Spotted lanternfly documented 8 miles from Hornell, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hornell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hornell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HORNELL ARMORYBrownfields · 700 ft
- KWIK FILL MO379/379Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GENERAL MARBLE CORPToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1028622Brownfields · 1100 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1028621Brownfields · 1100 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1061840Brownfields · 1100 ft
- SENECA STREET CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- HORNELL CITY OF - TANK IN ROWBrownfields · 1400 ft
- HARWOODS CAR CAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GREATER SOUTHERN TIER BOCESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 7-eleven #35099Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- NYS DOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hornell'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 Hornell.
Total Sites
185
within ~10 miles of Hornell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hornell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hornell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hornell, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Hornell. 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 Hornell
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 Hornell average
Your land is one point inside Hornell
Everything above resolves to Hornell 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 city 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 Hornell Average
Hornell Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Hornell
- ●One soil character for all of Hornell
- ●Frost dates read at Hornell's scale: May 5 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hornell's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hornell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hornell, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hornell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hornell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hornell average
How we know this about Hornell
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Hornell’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Hornell
When does frost risk typically end in Hornell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hornell 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.
When is the first frost in Hornell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hornell typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hornell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hornell sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 30, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hornell?
The federal record around Hornell is a meaningful one — 185 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (77), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hornell?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hornell's scale — its 5b band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hornell'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 Hornell’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hornell's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,099 acres it covers and 185 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hornell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hornell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 14 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 185 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hornell, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hornell's boundary and the 2,099 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hornell's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hornelllydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hornell's 2,099 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Steuben County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Steuben County
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Steuben County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hornell's 2,099 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hornell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,099 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Hornell-wide figureread your own land →
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