Honey bee forage in New Market, Alabama

When is the honey flow in New Market?

• First forage: Feb 1 (dandelion, early trees (maple, willow, poplar), clovers: white, alsike and red)
• Main flow: May 16 to Jul 15, peaking late May (soybeans)
• Fall flow: Aug 1 to Aug 15 (cotton)
• Season ends: Sep 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of New Market, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on Mar 28.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, early trees (maple, willow, poplar); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): cotton, soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Fall honey (September to November): cotton, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), garden flowers; light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Whole season (March to November): soybeans, cotton, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; extra light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Soybeans: about 780 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early May – late Jul (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Cotton: about 80 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 46 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NE, blooms late May – late Jun (grown 4 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around New Market

Mostly: Eastern Cool Temperate Pasture and Hayland; Southern Ridge and Valley / Cumberland Dry Calcareous Forest; Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.07 mi NE; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.09 mi N.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Cotton: insecticides used on about 39% of surveyed US acres (2025). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

How New Market ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

About 48% of the land here is scored with national averages for its vegetation type rather than measured plant cover, so the wild-plant part of this estimate is rougher than the crop part.

Nearby

Moores Mill 6 mi · Hazel Green 8 mi · Meridianville 9 mi · Gurley 13 mi · Pleasant Groves 17 mi · Paint Rock 17 mi

All towns in Alabama · National map · How the scoring works

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021–2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of New Market (34.8923, -86.4258); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.