Waupaca County, in Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Waupaca County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Waupaca 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 Waupaca County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waupaca County — the short answer
Waupaca County, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 479K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 479K 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 5a is Waupaca County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waupaca County's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Waupaca County
Across a year, Waupaca County accumulates about 2,218 growing degree days above 50°F, about 68 more than the middle Wisconsin county — ahead of 42 of Wisconsin’s 72 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.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Waupaca County
Across Waupaca County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Hortonville, Rosholt, and Plainfield are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loamy sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.8–6.2, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
22%
Hydric soils
25%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Waupaca County
The USDA soil survey maps 37% of Waupaca County as well drained — but another 61% drains differently: 16% very poorly drained, 13% somewhat poorly drained.
Hortonville is the most extensive named soil at 14% of mapped acres, then Rosholt (11%) and Plainfield (10%).
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 Waupaca County
Each reading below is measured for Waupaca 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 Waupaca County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — 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 Waupaca County runs about pH 5.8–6.2, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 25% of Waupaca 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
MeasuredWaupaca County runs about 175 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
The kind of country Waupaca County is in
Waupaca County sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Waupaca County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Waupaca County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 175-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 Wisconsin profile.
Is it too late to plant in Waupaca County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Waupaca County
- monarch butterfly64 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Waupaca County
USGS estimates 80,758 lb of Glyphosate on Waupaca County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (40,704 lb) and Metolachlor (22,982 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 Waupaca County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Waupaca County — 655 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 4 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 Waupaca 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 Waupaca County
Closest first, across Waupaca County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Theresa LightfussUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #18463Brownfields · 2.5 mi
- WAUPACA CNTY PROCESSING & TRANSFERBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- SUEHS MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- MUNDT MOTOR CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Heisie Brothers MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Fergas IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- TOMORROW VALLEY COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- A R Schuelke & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- KEITH TIMMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Chancy M WalkerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Edward FergUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waupaca 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 Waupaca County.
Total Sites
655
across Waupaca County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Waupaca County
Severity Distribution
across Waupaca County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waupaca County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 472 sites across Waupaca County. 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.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Waupaca 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 Waupaca County average
Your land is one point inside Waupaca County
Everything above resolves to Waupaca County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 479K 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 Waupaca County Average
Waupaca County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Waupaca County
- ●One soil character for all of Waupaca County
- ●Frost dates read at Waupaca County's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waupaca County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Waupaca County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waupaca County, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waupaca County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waupaca County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waupaca County average
How we know this about Waupaca 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 Waupaca County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Waupaca County
When does frost risk typically end in Waupaca County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waupaca County typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
How long is the growing season in Waupaca County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waupaca County sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 2, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waupaca County?
The federal record around Waupaca County is a meaningful one — 655 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (472), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 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 Waupaca County's scale — its 5a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waupaca 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 Wisconsin's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Waupaca County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Waupaca County's own scale — its own ~175-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 655 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waupaca County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waupaca County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Waupaca CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 655 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Waupaca County's boundary and the 478,529 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Waupaca County sitting wholly inside the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Waupaca County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Waupaca County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Wisconsin grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wisconsin
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Waupaca County — the ~175 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 Waupaca County's 478,529 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 655 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 Waupaca Countyread your own land →