North Hornell, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North 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 North 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 North Hornell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Hornell — the short answer
North Hornell, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 314 acres of town.
- 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
- Town area
- 314 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 North Hornell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North 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 North Hornell
Each reading below is measured for North Hornell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Hornell 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
MeasuredNorth Hornell 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 North Hornell is in
North Hornell sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Hornell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Steuben County.
What Grows in North Hornell
Every plant below cleared North 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 North Hornell?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around North Hornell
Spotted lanternfly documented 8 miles from North Hornell, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Hornell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Hornell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MERCY CAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- LOWES OF HORNELL NY #2444Brownfields · 1400 ft
- STEUBEN COUNTY DPWUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WEGMANS FOOD MARKET #17 HORNELLBrownfields · 1700 ft
- HORNELL CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WALMART #2326Brownfields · 2300 ft
- USACE ALMOND DAMBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- ALSTOM - HORNELL CAR SHOPBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- ALSTOM - HORNELL CAR SHOPToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- ALSTOM - HORNELL MOTOR SHOPToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- ALSTOM - HORNELL MOTOR SHOPBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- ELLIOTT AUTO SUPPLY CO INC DBA FACTORY MOTOR PARTS-LOC 263Brownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North 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 North Hornell.
Total Sites
192
within ~10 miles of North Hornell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Hornell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Hornell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Hornell, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of North 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 North 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 North Hornell average
Your land is one point inside North Hornell
Everything above resolves to North Hornell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 314 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 North Hornell Average
North Hornell Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across North Hornell
- ●One soil character for all of North Hornell
- ●Frost dates read at North Hornell's scale: May 5 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Hornell's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Hornell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Hornell, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Hornell averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Hornell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Hornell average
How we know this about North Hornell
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 North 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 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 North Hornell
When does frost risk typically end in North Hornell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North 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 North Hornell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North 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 North Hornell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North 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 North Hornell?
The federal record around North Hornell is a meaningful one — 192 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 North 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 North Hornell's scale — its 5b band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North 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 North Hornell’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Hornell's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 314 acres it covers and 192 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Hornell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- North 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
- 192 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Hornell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Hornell's boundary and the 314 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 North Hornell's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of North Hornelllydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Hornell's 314 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 North Hornell's 314 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North 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 314 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 North Hornell-wide figureread your own land →
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