Kadoka, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Kadoka, 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 Kadoka 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 Kadoka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kadoka — the short answer
Kadoka, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- 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
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 5a is Kadoka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kadoka's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kadoka
Each reading below is measured for Kadoka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKadoka runs about 169 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
MeasuredKadoka sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Kadoka is in
Kadoka sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Kadoka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Kadoka
Every plant below cleared Kadoka's own zone 5a and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kadoka?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Kadoka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kadoka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JACKSON COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SD DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SIDEKICKS RESTARAUNTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- DISCOUNT FUEL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- KODAKA GAS AND GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- YSEWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- E-5Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- SCHNEE DAIRY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- E-6Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- SD DOT MAINTENANCE SHOP - KADOKABrownfields · 4.6 mi
- E-1Underground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- 43N35W 5DBNitrate · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kadoka'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 Kadoka.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kadoka
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Kadoka
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 Kadoka average
Your land is one point inside Kadoka
Everything above resolves to Kadoka as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 city 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 Kadoka Average
Kadoka Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Kadoka
- ●One soil character for all of Kadoka
- ●Frost dates read at Kadoka's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kadoka's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kadoka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kadoka, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kadoka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kadoka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kadoka average
How we know this about Kadoka
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Kadoka’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Kadoka
When does frost risk typically end in Kadoka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kadoka typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Kadoka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kadoka 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 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kadoka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kadoka sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Oct 1, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kadoka?
The federal record around Kadoka is light — 22 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Kadoka?
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 Kadoka's scale — its 5a band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kadoka'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 Kadoka’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kadoka's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,462 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kadoka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kadoka's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 15 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kadoka, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kadoka's boundary and the 1,462 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kadoka's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kadoka's 1,462 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson County
- The growing challenges every South Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kadoka's 1,462 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kadoka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,462 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Kadoka-wide figureread your own land →
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