West Decatur, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in West Decatur, 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 West Decatur 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 West Decatur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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West Decatur — the short answer
West Decatur, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 896 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 896 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 West Decatur's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against West Decatur's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in West Decatur
Each reading below is measured for West Decatur itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWest Decatur runs about 177 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
MeasuredWest Decatur 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 West Decatur is in
West Decatur sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at West Decatur's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clearfield County.
What Grows in West Decatur
Every plant below cleared West Decatur's own zone 6a and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in West Decatur?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around West Decatur
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from West Decatur, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near West Decatur
Closest first, within ~10 miles of West Decatur. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PENN S JOBUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- DOUGLAS DRILLINGBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- AVERY COAL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- HOFFMAN CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- AW KIFERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- NETSHAPE TECH INCBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- CLEARFIELD CO2Superfund · 2.9 mi
- CMP PHILIPSBURG BULKUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- CMP PHILIPSBURG PRIDEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- COUNTRY MKTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- ROSSELLI TRUCKING INC GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- NITTANY MINIT MART 234Underground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from West Decatur'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 West Decatur.
Total Sites
229
within ~10 miles of West Decatur
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of West Decatur
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of West Decatur
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around West Decatur, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of West Decatur. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 West Decatur
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 West Decatur average
Your land is one point inside West Decatur
Everything above resolves to West Decatur as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 896 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 West Decatur Average
West Decatur Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across West Decatur
- ●One soil character for all of West Decatur
- ●Frost dates read at West Decatur's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not West Decatur's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in West Decatur
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in West Decatur, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that West Decatur averages can't show:
We read public map data around West Decatur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the West Decatur average
How we know this about West Decatur
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 West Decatur’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 West Decatur
When does frost risk typically end in West Decatur?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in West Decatur typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in West Decatur?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in West Decatur typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in West Decatur?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, West Decatur sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 7, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in West Decatur?
The federal record around West Decatur is a meaningful one — 229 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (127), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 West Decatur?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at West Decatur's scale — its 6a band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of West Decatur'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 West Decatur’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at West Decatur's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 896 acres it covers and 229 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- West Decatur's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- West Decatur's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 21 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 229 documented contamination sites on the federal record near West Decatur, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- West Decatur's boundary and the 896 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at West Decatur's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of West Decaturlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so West Decatur's 896 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clearfield County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clearfield 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 Clearfield County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among West Decatur's 896 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of West Decatur you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 896 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 West Decatur-wide figureread your own land →
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