Oneonta, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Oneonta, 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 Oneonta 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 Oneonta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oneonta — the short answer
Oneonta, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Oneonta's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oneonta's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oneonta
Each reading below is measured for Oneonta itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOneonta runs about 169 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
MeasuredOneonta 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 Oneonta is in
Oneonta sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Oneonta's own centroid rather than borrowed from Otsego County.
What Grows in Oneonta
Every plant below cleared Oneonta's own zone 5b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oneonta?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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 Oneonta
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Oneonta, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Oneonta
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oneonta. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VICTORY THRIFT & BEVERAGE #308Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- B.P.O.E. #1312 ELKS LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- THE DAILY STARBrownfields · 350 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #10652Brownfields · 350 ft
- THE DAILY STARUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- HARTWICK COLLEGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- U TOTE M CLEANING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- KWIK FILL M0348/348Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ONEONTA THEATREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- T & S AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE INC-DBA VIC'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WILBER NATIONAL BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oneonta'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 Oneonta.
Total Sites
223
within ~10 miles of Oneonta
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oneonta
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oneonta
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oneonta, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Oneonta. 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 Oneonta
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 Oneonta average
Your land is one point inside Oneonta
Everything above resolves to Oneonta as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Oneonta Average
Oneonta Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Oneonta
- ●One soil character for all of Oneonta
- ●Frost dates read at Oneonta's scale: May 2 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oneonta's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oneonta
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oneonta, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oneonta averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oneonta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oneonta average
How we know this about Oneonta
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 Oneonta’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 Oneonta
When does frost risk typically end in Oneonta?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oneonta typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Oneonta?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oneonta typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oneonta?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oneonta sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Oct 4, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oneonta?
The federal record around Oneonta is a meaningful one — 223 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (128), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Oneonta?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oneonta's scale — its 5b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oneonta'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 Oneonta’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Oneonta's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,791 acres it covers and 223 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oneonta's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oneonta's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 18 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 223 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oneonta, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oneonta's boundary and the 2,791 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oneonta's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Oneontalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oneonta's 2,791 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Otsego County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Otsego 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 Otsego County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oneonta's 2,791 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oneonta you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,791 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Oneonta-wide figureread your own land →
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