Kronenwetter, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kronenwetter, 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 Kronenwetter 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 Kronenwetter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kronenwetter — the short answer
Kronenwetter, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 33K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 33K 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 Kronenwetter's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kronenwetter's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kronenwetter
Each reading below is measured for Kronenwetter itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKronenwetter runs about 176 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
MeasuredKronenwetter 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 Kronenwetter is in
Kronenwetter sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Kronenwetter's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marathon County.
What Grows in Kronenwetter
Every plant below cleared Kronenwetter's own zone 5a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kronenwetter?
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 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 17 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Kronenwetter
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kronenwetter. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HARLAND WALTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- STANLEY & ESTELLE GRYCH FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- James & Nancy LangUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- STANLEY E SWINICKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Town Of KronenwetterUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- BOB BATESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- ROBERT APFELBECKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Dakota Land Co LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- JAMES BLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- WAUSAU VOR NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEMBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- WISDOT HWY 153 & HWY XUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- WONSILS BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kronenwetter'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 Kronenwetter.
Total Sites
687
within ~10 miles of Kronenwetter
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kronenwetter
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kronenwetter
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kronenwetter, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 443 sites within ~10 miles of Kronenwetter. 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 Kronenwetter
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 Kronenwetter average
Your land is one point inside Kronenwetter
Everything above resolves to Kronenwetter as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 33K 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 Kronenwetter Average
Kronenwetter Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Kronenwetter
- ●One soil character for all of Kronenwetter
- ●Frost dates read at Kronenwetter's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kronenwetter's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kronenwetter
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kronenwetter averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kronenwetter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kronenwetter average
How we know this about Kronenwetter
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 Kronenwetter’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 Kronenwetter
When does frost risk typically end in Kronenwetter?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kronenwetter 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.
When is the first frost in Kronenwetter?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kronenwetter typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kronenwetter?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kronenwetter sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 3, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kronenwetter?
The federal record around Kronenwetter is a meaningful one — 687 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (443), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Kronenwetter?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kronenwetter's scale — its 5a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kronenwetter'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 Kronenwetter’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kronenwetter's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 33,047 acres it covers and 687 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kronenwetter's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kronenwetter's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 17 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 687 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kronenwetter, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kronenwetter's boundary and the 33,047 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kronenwetter's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kronenwetter's 33,047 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marathon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marathon County
- The growing challenges every Wisconsin grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wisconsin
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Marathon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kronenwetter's 33,047 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kronenwetter you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 33,047 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Kronenwetter-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinKronenwetter sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides