Dillon County, in South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Dillon County lies within the Pee Dee — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Dillon County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Dillon 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 Dillon County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Dillon County — the short answer
Dillon County, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 267 days between hard freezes, across 259K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~267
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 259K 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 8b is Dillon County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dillon County's 267-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Dillon County
Across a year, Dillon County accumulates about 5,080 growing degree days above 50°F, about 68 fewer than the middle South Carolina county — ahead of 20 of South Carolina’s 46 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.
Winter banks about 1,366 hours below 45°F, 4 more than the South Carolina middle of 1,362. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Dillon County
Across Dillon County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Coxville, Dothan, and Persanti are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.7–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
32%
Hydric soils
41%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Dillon County
The USDA soil survey maps 25% of Dillon County as well drained — but another 75% drains differently: 24% poorly drained, 17% very poorly drained.
Coxville is the most extensive named soil at 12% of mapped acres, then Dothan (10%) and Persanti (7%).
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 Dillon County
Each reading below is measured for Dillon 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 Dillon County are well drained, in hydrologic group C/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 Dillon County runs about pH 4.7–5.3, 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 41% of Dillon County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredDillon County runs about 267 days between hard freezes — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
The kind of country Dillon County is in
Dillon County sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Dillon County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Dillon County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 267-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 South Carolina profile.
Is it too late to plant in Dillon County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
Documented around Dillon County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Dillon County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 86 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Dillon County
USGS estimates 84,215 lb of Glyphosate on Dillon County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (24,100 lb) and Dicamba (19,302 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 Dillon County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Dillon County — 218 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). 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 Dillon 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 Dillon County
Closest first, across Dillon County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STUCKEYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PALMETTO PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- J W BAILEY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HAMILTON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DIL- 5Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- DAWKINS ON-SITE, LLC - DILLION PORTABLEToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- GORDON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- DILLON SOCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- MCI LLC-DILLSCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- HOT ZONE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- LOCKEMYS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dillon 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 Dillon County.
Total Sites
218
across Dillon County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Dillon County
Severity Distribution
across Dillon County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dillon County, two things run higher than the national average across Dillon County — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (166 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Dillon 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 Dillon County average
Your land is one point inside Dillon County
Everything above resolves to Dillon County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 259K 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 Dillon County Average
Dillon County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Dillon County
- ●One soil character for all of Dillon County
- ●Frost dates read at Dillon County's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dillon County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Dillon County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dillon County, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dillon County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dillon County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dillon County average
How we know this about Dillon 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 Dillon County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Dillon County
When does frost risk typically end in Dillon County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dillon County typically lands around Mar 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 Mar 26.
How long is the growing season in Dillon County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dillon County sees about 267 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 13, about 232 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dillon County?
The federal record around Dillon County is a meaningful one — 218 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (166), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Dillon County's scale — its 8b band and its 267-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dillon 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 South Carolina's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Dillon County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Dillon County's own scale — its own ~267-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 218 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dillon County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dillon County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~267-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Dillon CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 218 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Dillon County's boundary and the 259,249 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~267-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Dillon County sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Dillon County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Dillon County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every South Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Carolina
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Dillon County — the ~267 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 Dillon County's 259,249 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 218 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 Dillon Countyread your own land →