Honey bee forage in Tucumcari, New Mexico

When is the honey flow in Tucumcari?

• First forage: Feb 1 (dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Main flow: Mar 1 to Jun 30, peaking late Mar (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion)
• Fall flow: Jul 16 to Aug 15 (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), cotton, dandelion)
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Tucumcari, 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): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), cotton, garden flowers, dandelion; extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), garden flowers, cotton; amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Whole season (March to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); extra light amber, 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

• Cotton: about 17 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug (grown 2 of the last 5 years)
• Alfalfa: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early May – late Jul (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Sorghum: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, 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 Tucumcari

Mostly: Western Great Plains Mesquite Shrubland; Western Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie; Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Shrub-Steppe.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.11 mi S; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.21 mi SE.

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 Tucumcari ranks

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

About 43% 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

Logan 19 mi · San Jon 21 mi · Conchas Dam 30 mi · Grady 33 mi · Newkirk 33 mi · House 38 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 Tucumcari (35.1703, -103.705); 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.