Whitney Point, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Whitney Point, 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 Whitney Point 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 Whitney Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitney Point — the short answer
Whitney Point, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 668 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 668 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 6a is Whitney Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitney Point's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitney Point
Each reading below is measured for Whitney Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhitney Point runs about 179 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
MeasuredWhitney Point sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Whitney Point is in
Whitney Point sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Whitney Point's own centroid rather than borrowed from Broome County.
What Grows in Whitney Point
Every plant below cleared Whitney Point's own zone 6a and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitney Point?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Whitney Point
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Whitney Point, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Whitney Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whitney Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VILLAGE OF CENTRAL SQUAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- RED'S AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- WHITNEY POINT CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- 4 FAMILY APARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #6436Brownfields · 1000 ft
- BM 375Nitrate · 1100 ft
- WHITNEY POINT AGWAY COOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TOWN OF TRIANGLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SPEEDWAY # 7728Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BM 461Nitrate · 1600 ft
- SPEEDWAY 7728Brownfields · 1700 ft
- KWIK-FILL #A0077-033Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whitney Point'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 Whitney Point.
Total Sites
101
within ~10 miles of Whitney Point
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Whitney Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whitney Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whitney Point, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Whitney Point. 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 Whitney Point
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 Whitney Point average
Your land is one point inside Whitney Point
Everything above resolves to Whitney Point as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 668 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 Whitney Point Average
Whitney Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Whitney Point
- ●One soil character for all of Whitney Point
- ●Frost dates read at Whitney Point's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitney Point's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitney Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitney Point, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitney Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitney Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitney Point average
How we know this about Whitney Point
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 Whitney Point’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 Whitney Point
When does frost risk typically end in Whitney Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitney Point typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Whitney Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitney Point typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitney Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitney Point sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 8, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitney Point?
The federal record around Whitney Point is a meaningful one — 101 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), 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 Whitney Point?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whitney Point's scale — its 6a band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitney Point'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 Whitney Point’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Whitney Point's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 668 acres it covers and 101 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitney Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitney Point's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 22 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 101 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whitney Point, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whitney Point's boundary and the 668 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Whitney Point's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Whitney Pointlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whitney Point's 668 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Broome County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Broome 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 Broome County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitney Point's 668 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitney Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 668 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 Whitney Point-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkWhitney Point sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides