Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rochester Institute of Technology, 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 Rochester Institute of Technology 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 Rochester Institute of Technology — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rochester Institute of Technology — the short answer
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York: USDA zone 6b, about 209 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~209
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 6b is Rochester Institute of Technology's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rochester Institute of Technology's 209-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rochester Institute of Technology
Each reading below is measured for Rochester Institute of Technology itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRochester Institute of Technology runs about 209 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRochester Institute of Technology sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Rochester Institute of Technology is in
Rochester Institute of Technology sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rochester Institute of Technology's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monroe County.
What Grows in Rochester Institute of Technology
Every plant below cleared Rochester Institute of Technology's own zone 6b and its 209-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rochester Institute of Technology?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Rochester Institute of Technology
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Rochester Institute of Technology, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Rochester Institute of Technology
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rochester Institute of Technology. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYBrownfields · 950 ft
- ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BALLANTYNE SERVICE CENTER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JOHN STREET PUMP STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JOHN ST (GENERAL TESTING)Superfund · 0.7 mi
- ARC OF MONROE COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ROCHESTER MEDICALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MKS INSTRUMENTS - POWER SOLUTIONSToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- MKS INSTRUMENTS - POWER SOLUTIONSBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- RYDER TRUCK RENTAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GENESEE RESERVE SUPPLY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- NATIONWIDE PRECISION PRODUCTSBrownfields · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rochester Institute of Technology'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 Rochester Institute of Technology.
Total Sites
2,266
within ~10 miles of Rochester Institute of Technology
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
20 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rochester Institute of Technology
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rochester Institute of Technology
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Rochester Institute of Technology
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 Rochester Institute of Technology average
Your land is one point inside Rochester Institute of Technology
Everything above resolves to Rochester Institute of Technology as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Rochester Institute of Technology Average
Rochester Institute of Technology Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Rochester Institute of Technology
- ●One soil character for all of Rochester Institute of Technology
- ●Frost dates read at Rochester Institute of Technology's scale: Apr 12 to Nov 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rochester Institute of Technology's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rochester Institute of Technology
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rochester Institute of Technology, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rochester Institute of Technology averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rochester Institute of Technology — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rochester Institute of Technology average
How we know this about Rochester Institute of Technology
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 Rochester Institute of Technology’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 Rochester Institute of Technology
When does frost risk typically end in Rochester Institute of Technology?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rochester Institute of Technology typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Rochester Institute of Technology?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rochester Institute of Technology typically arrives around Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 24, so the watching starts about Oct 8 — about 209 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rochester Institute of Technology?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rochester Institute of Technology sees about 209 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 24, about 174 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rochester Institute of Technology?
The federal record around Rochester Institute of Technology is a meaningful one — 2,266 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,166), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Rochester Institute of Technology?
From about Oct 8 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 Nov 7 (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 Nov 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rochester Institute of Technology's scale — its 6b band and its 209-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rochester Institute of Technology'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 Rochester Institute of Technology’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Rochester Institute of Technology's own scale — its own ~209-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,268 acres it covers and 2,266 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rochester Institute of Technology's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rochester Institute of Technology's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Nov 7 and the ~209-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2,266 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rochester Institute of Technology, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rochester Institute of Technology's boundary and the 1,268 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~209-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rochester Institute of Technology's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Rochester Institute of Technologylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rochester Institute of Technology's 1,268 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monroe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monroe 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 Monroe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rochester Institute of Technology's 1,268 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rochester Institute of Technology you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,268 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Rochester Institute of Technology-wide figureread your own land →
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