Factoryville, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Factoryville, 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 Factoryville 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 Factoryville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Factoryville — the short answer
Factoryville, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 484 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- 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
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 484 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 Factoryville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Factoryville's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Factoryville
Each reading below is measured for Factoryville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFactoryville runs about 183 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
MeasuredFactoryville 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 Factoryville is in
Factoryville sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Factoryville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wyoming County.
What Grows in Factoryville
Every plant below cleared Factoryville's own zone 6a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Factoryville?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (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 Factoryville
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Factoryville, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Factoryville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Factoryville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WY 64Nitrate · 200 ft
- KEYSTONE COLLEGE-HARRIS TP300Brownfields · 750 ft
- J KARP & SONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- DRAKE WELL DRILLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FACTORY EQUIP EXCAVATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- COMPLETE AUTO SALESBrownfields · 1100 ft
- JA KEHRLI OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- AIRLINE PETRO BULKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- PA0219 FACTORYVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- WWTPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JACQUES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- KEYSTONE JR COLLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Factoryville'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 Factoryville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Factoryville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Factoryville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Factoryville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 122 sites within ~10 miles of Factoryville. 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 Factoryville
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 Factoryville average
Your land is one point inside Factoryville
Everything above resolves to Factoryville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 484 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 Factoryville Average
Factoryville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Factoryville
- ●One soil character for all of Factoryville
- ●Frost dates read at Factoryville's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Factoryville's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Factoryville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Factoryville, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Factoryville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Factoryville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Factoryville average
How we know this about Factoryville
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 Factoryville’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 Factoryville
When does frost risk typically end in Factoryville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Factoryville typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Factoryville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Factoryville 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 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Factoryville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Factoryville sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 8, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Factoryville?
The federal record around Factoryville is a meaningful one — 372 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (163), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Factoryville?
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 Factoryville's scale — its 6a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Factoryville'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 Factoryville’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Factoryville's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 484 acres it covers and 372 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Factoryville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Factoryville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 22 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 372 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Factoryville, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Factoryville's boundary and the 484 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Factoryville's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Factoryvillelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Factoryville's 484 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wyoming County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wyoming 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 Wyoming County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Factoryville's 484 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Factoryville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 484 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Factoryville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Wider growing context
What grows across PennsylvaniaFactoryville sits outside our named growing regions, so Pennsylvania as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides