Susquehanna County, in Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Susquehanna County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Susquehanna County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Susquehanna County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Susquehanna County — the short answer
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 5b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 527K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 527K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Susquehanna County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Susquehanna County's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Susquehanna County
Across a year, Susquehanna County accumulates about 1,987 growing degree days above 50°F, about 560 fewer than the middle Pennsylvania county — ahead of 6 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Susquehanna County
Across Susquehanna County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Volusia, Morris, and Wellsboro are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.5–6.0, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
12%
Hydric soils
4%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Susquehanna County
The USDA soil survey maps 37% of Susquehanna County as well drained — but another 61% drains differently: 29% somewhat poorly drained, 28% moderately well drained.
Volusia is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Morris (14%) and Wellsboro (13%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Susquehanna County
Each reading below is measured for Susquehanna County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Susquehanna County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Susquehanna County runs about pH 5.5–6.0, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredSusquehanna County runs about 170 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
MeasuredSusquehanna County 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 Susquehanna County is in
Susquehanna County sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Susquehanna County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Susquehanna County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 170-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile.
Is it too late to plant in Susquehanna County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (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 Susquehanna County
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Susquehanna County, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle2 documented records
- monarch butterfly98 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Susquehanna County
USGS estimates 3,612 lb of Glyphosate on Susquehanna County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (1,032 lb) and Atrazine (608 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Susquehanna County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Susquehanna County — 429 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Susquehanna County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Susquehanna County
Closest first, across Susquehanna County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SQ 169Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- SQ 167Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- ENG DIST 4 0 0450Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY #1352Brownfields · 2.0 mi
- WILLIAM LAWRENCE EXCAVUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SQ 168Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- SQ 166Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- SQ 15Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- DIAZ FOREST PROD LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- SQ 123Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- MOLENKOS PAINT SHOP SIGN GRAPHICSBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- PENELEC - MONTROSE DIST OFCBrownfields · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Susquehanna County'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 Susquehanna County.
Sources Checked
across Susquehanna County
Severity Distribution
across Susquehanna County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Susquehanna County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 238 sites across Susquehanna County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Susquehanna County
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 Susquehanna County average
Your land is one point inside Susquehanna County
Everything above resolves to Susquehanna County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 527K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Susquehanna County Average
Susquehanna County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Susquehanna County
- ●One soil character for all of Susquehanna County
- ●Frost dates read at Susquehanna County's scale: May 1 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Susquehanna County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Susquehanna County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Susquehanna County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Susquehanna County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Susquehanna County average
How we know this about Susquehanna County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Susquehanna County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Susquehanna County
When does frost risk typically end in Susquehanna County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Susquehanna County typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
How long is the growing season in Susquehanna County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Susquehanna County sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 4, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Susquehanna County?
The federal record around Susquehanna County is a meaningful one — 429 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (238), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.7 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.
Everything above is measured at Susquehanna County's scale — its 5b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Susquehanna County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Pennsylvania's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Susquehanna County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Susquehanna County's own scale — its own ~170-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 429 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Susquehanna County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Susquehanna County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Susquehanna CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 429 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Susquehanna County's boundary and the 527,036 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Susquehanna County sitting wholly inside the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Susquehanna County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Susquehanna County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Susquehanna County — the ~170 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Susquehanna County's 527,036 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 429 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Susquehanna Countyread your own land →