Post Lake, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Post Lake, 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 Post Lake 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 Post Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Post Lake — the short answer
Post Lake, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 4b is Post Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Post Lake's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Post Lake
Each reading below is measured for Post Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPost Lake runs about 149 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredPost Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Post Lake is in
Post Lake sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Post Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Langlade County.
What Grows in Post Lake
Every plant below cleared Post Lake's own zone 4b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Post Lake?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Post Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Post Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TJS PAINT & CUSTOMBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- CHAPMANS SUNSET VIEW RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LA-34/11E/23-0973Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- LA-34/11E/11-1228Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- EARL HORNECKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- HWY SHOP - ELCHOUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- ELCHO PLUMBING & HEATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- T & G BUS SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- BOOMERS BAYSIDEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- MARJORIE SHULZEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Robert MoellerUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- VICTOR WARGUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Post Lake'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 Post Lake.
Total Sites
138
within ~10 miles of Post Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Post Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Post Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Post Lake, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of Post Lake. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Post Lake
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 Post Lake average
Your land is one point inside Post Lake
Everything above resolves to Post Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Post Lake Average
Post Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Post Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Post Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Post Lake's scale: May 10 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Post Lake's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Post Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Post Lake, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Post Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Post Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Post Lake average
How we know this about Post Lake
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 Post Lake’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 Post Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Post Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Post Lake typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Post Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Post Lake typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Post Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Post Lake sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 22, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Post Lake?
The federal record around Post Lake is a meaningful one — 138 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (66), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 gardeners stretch the season in Post Lake?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Post Lake rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Post Lake's scale — its 4b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Post Lake'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 Post Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Post Lake's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,639 acres it covers and 138 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Post Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Post Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 6 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 138 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Post Lake, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Post Lake's boundary and the 4,639 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Post Lake's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Post Lake's 4,639 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Langlade County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Langlade 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 Langlade County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Post Lake's 4,639 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Post Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,639 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Post Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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