Honey bee forage in Red Oak, North Carolina

When is the honey flow in Red Oak?

• First forage: Feb 1 (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), early trees (maple, willow, poplar), dandelion)
• Main flow: Mar 16 to Jul 15, peaking late May (soybeans, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), summer-flowering trees (locust, linden))
• Season ends: Aug 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Red Oak, 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 29.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), soybeans, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), summer-flowering shrubs; white, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): soybeans, cotton, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), cotton, garden flowers; light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Whole season (March to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), soybeans, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), summer-flowering shrubs; white, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid

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 42 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms early May – late Jul (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Cotton: about 41 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 3 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 Red Oak

Mostly: Southeastern Native Ruderal Forest; Southeastern North American Temperate Forest Plantation; Southeastern Ruderal Grassland.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.12 mi S; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.14 mi W.

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 Red Oak ranks

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

About 71% 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

Dortches 4 mi · Nashville 7 mi · Rocky Mount 8 mi · Castalia 9 mi · Momeyer 11 mi · Whitakers 11 mi

All towns in North Carolina · 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 Red Oak (36.0613, -77.9038); 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.