Nacogdoches County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — 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, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Nacogdoches County lies within the Piney Woods — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Nacogdoches County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Nacogdoches 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 Nacogdoches County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Nacogdoches County — the short answer
Nacogdoches County, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 606K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 606K 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 Nacogdoches County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nacogdoches County's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Nacogdoches County
Across a year, Nacogdoches County accumulates about 5,960 growing degree days above 50°F, about 136 more than the middle Texas county — ahead of 148 of Texas’s 254 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 860 hours below 45°F, 235 fewer than the Texas middle of 1,095. 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 Nacogdoches County
Across Nacogdoches County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Nacogdoches, Cuthbert, and Kirvin are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3–5.8, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
18%
Hydric soils
5%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Nacogdoches County
The USDA soil survey maps 60% of Nacogdoches County as well drained — but another 37% drains differently: 22% moderately well drained, 8% somewhat excessively drained.
Nacogdoches is the most extensive named soil at 10% of mapped acres, then Cuthbert (9%) and Kirvin (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 Nacogdoches County
Each reading below is measured for Nacogdoches 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 Nacogdoches County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — 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 Nacogdoches County runs about pH 5.3–5.8, 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
Season length
MeasuredNacogdoches County runs about 282 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
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNacogdoches County sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Nacogdoches County is in
Nacogdoches County sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Nacogdoches County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Nacogdoches County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 282-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 Texas profile.
Is it too late to plant in Nacogdoches County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Nacogdoches County
- monarch butterfly59 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Nacogdoches County
USGS estimates 9,808 lb of 2,4-d on Nacogdoches County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (2,540 lb) and Dicamba (2,349 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 Nacogdoches County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Nacogdoches County — 333 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 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 Nacogdoches 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 Nacogdoches County
Closest first, across Nacogdoches County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROY RIGBYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FULLERS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- COMMERCIAL EXPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MARTINSVILLE ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FINA SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WILLIAMSON CHEVROLET BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HALTOMS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MELROSE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- DOUGLASS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- LINWOOD HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BARTS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nacogdoches 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 Nacogdoches County.
Total Sites
333
across Nacogdoches County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Nacogdoches County
Severity Distribution
across Nacogdoches County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nacogdoches County, two things run higher than the national average across Nacogdoches County — Underground Storage Tanks (269 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Nacogdoches 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 Nacogdoches County average
Your land is one point inside Nacogdoches County
Everything above resolves to Nacogdoches County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 606K 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 Nacogdoches County Average
Nacogdoches County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Nacogdoches County
- ●One soil character for all of Nacogdoches County
- ●Frost dates read at Nacogdoches County's scale: Feb 19 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nacogdoches County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Nacogdoches County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nacogdoches County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nacogdoches County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nacogdoches County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nacogdoches County average
How we know this about Nacogdoches 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 Nacogdoches County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Nacogdoches County
When does frost risk typically end in Nacogdoches County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nacogdoches County typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
How long is the growing season in Nacogdoches County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nacogdoches County sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 14, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nacogdoches County?
The federal record around Nacogdoches County is a meaningful one — 333 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (269), 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 Nacogdoches County's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nacogdoches 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 Texas's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Nacogdoches County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Nacogdoches County's own scale — its own ~282-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 333 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nacogdoches County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nacogdoches County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~282-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Nacogdoches CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 333 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
- Nacogdoches County's boundary and the 605,647 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Nacogdoches County sitting wholly inside the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Nacogdoches County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Nacogdoches County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Nacogdoches County — the ~282 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 Nacogdoches County's 605,647 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 333 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 Nacogdoches Countyread your own land →