Eldred, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Eldred, 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 Eldred 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 Eldred — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eldred — the short answer
Eldred, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 5b, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 560 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 560 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 Eldred's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eldred's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eldred
Each reading below is measured for Eldred itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEldred runs about 163 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
MeasuredEldred 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 Eldred is in
Eldred sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Eldred's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKean County.
What Grows in Eldred
Every plant below cleared Eldred's own zone 5b and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eldred?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Eldred
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Eldred, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Eldred
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eldred. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELDRED KEYSTONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ELDRED ACE HDWRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WHITEHAWK BEEF COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ELDRED PAINT & BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1800 ft
- TAYLOR & ARMSTRONG CONTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TODD MOTOR SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- DANDY MINI MART 62Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JOYCE NATIONAL POWDERSuperfund · 0.6 mi
- M K HAHNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MC 132Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- SEALS KENDALL SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- PORT ALLEGANY CHEMICAL WORKSSuperfund · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eldred'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 Eldred.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eldred
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eldred
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eldred, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Eldred. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Eldred
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 Eldred average
Your land is one point inside Eldred
Everything above resolves to Eldred as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 560 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 Eldred Average
Eldred Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Eldred
- ●One soil character for all of Eldred
- ●Frost dates read at Eldred's scale: May 5 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eldred's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eldred
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eldred, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eldred averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eldred — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eldred average
How we know this about Eldred
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 Eldred’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 Eldred
When does frost risk typically end in Eldred?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eldred typically lands around May 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 May 26.
When is the first frost in Eldred?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eldred typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eldred?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eldred sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Oct 1, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eldred?
The federal record around Eldred is a meaningful one — 232 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Eldred?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Eldred's scale — its 5b band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eldred'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 Eldred’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Eldred's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 560 acres it covers and 232 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eldred's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eldred's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 15 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 232 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eldred, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eldred's boundary and the 560 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eldred's own centroid, the North Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Eldredlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Eldred's 560 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McKean County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McKean County
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom McKean County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eldred's 560 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eldred you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 560 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Eldred-wide figureread your own land →