Honey bee forage in Fort Sumner, New Mexico

When is the honey flow in Fort Sumner?

• First forage: Feb 1 (dandelion, native wildflowers, clovers: white, alsike and red)
• Main flow: Mar 16 to May 31, peaking early May (summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), clovers: white, alsike and red)
• Fall flow: Jun 16 to Jul 15 (alfalfa, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Fort Sumner, 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 27.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red, alfalfa; white, likely to stay liquid a long time
• Summer honey (July and August): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), alfalfa, dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), garden flowers; amber
• Whole season (March to November): summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red, alfalfa; white, likely to stay liquid a long time

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

Bee crops within flight range

• Alfalfa: about 1,928 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi S, blooms early May – late Jul (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Apples: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi SW, blooms late Mar – early Apr
• Corn: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.3 mi S, blooms late May – late Jun (grown 1 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 Fort Sumner

Mostly: Western Great Plains Mesquite Shrubland; Western Great Plains Sandhill Steppe; Apacherian-Chihuahuan Semi-Desert Shrub-Steppe.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 1.01 mi S; creek, wetland or wet meadow 1.37 mi SW.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 77% 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.
• No mapped water within a mile. Plan to provide water. Small ponds, ditches, troughs and pools don't show on these maps.

How Fort Sumner ranks

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

About 78% 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

Lake Sumner 14 mi · House 21 mi · Puerto de Luna 33 mi · Melrose 34 mi · Newkirk 40 mi · Santa Rosa 40 mi

All towns in New Mexico · 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 Fort Sumner (34.4869, -104.2177); 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.