Octa, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Octa, 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 Octa 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 Octa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Octa — the short answer
Octa, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 214 days between hard freezes, across 186 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~214
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 186 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 Octa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Octa's 214-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Octa
Each reading below is measured for Octa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOcta runs about 214 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
MeasuredOcta 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 Octa is in
Octa sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Octa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fayette County.
What Grows in Octa
Every plant below cleared Octa's own zone 6b and its 214-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Octa?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Octa
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Octa, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Octa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Octa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SPEEDWAY 7611Brownfields · 1400 ft
- TRUCKOMAT OF OHIO, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- SPEEDWAY #7611Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- EVERYDAY STORE #4380Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LOVE'S TRAVEL STOP #352Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- JEFFERSONVILLE TRAVEL CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- TRUE NORTH # 733Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- JEFFERSONVILLE AMOCO NO 757 *Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- JAMES SASSERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ROIL MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TRAVEL CENTERS OF AMERICA *Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- JASPER TOWNSHIP GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Octa'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 Octa.
Total Sites
107
within ~10 miles of Octa
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Octa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Octa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Octa, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Octa. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Octa
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 Octa average
Your land is one point inside Octa
Everything above resolves to Octa as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 186 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 Octa Average
Octa Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Octa
- ●One soil character for all of Octa
- ●Frost dates read at Octa's scale: Apr 5 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Octa's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Octa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Octa, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Octa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Octa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Octa average
How we know this about Octa
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 Octa’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 Octa
When does frost risk typically end in Octa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Octa typically lands around Apr 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 Apr 26.
When is the first frost in Octa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Octa typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 214 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Octa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Octa sees about 214 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 22, about 179 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Octa?
The federal record around Octa shows 107 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Octa?
From about Oct 6 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Octa's scale — its 6b band and its 214-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Octa'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 Octa’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Octa's own scale — its own ~214-day season between 28°F freezes, the 186 acres it covers and 107 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Octa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Octa's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 5 and Nov 5 and the ~214-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 107 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Octa, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Octa's boundary and the 186 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~214-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Octa's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Octalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Octa's 186 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fayette County
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Fayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Octa's 186 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Octa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 186 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Octa-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioOcta sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides