Honey bee forage in Carter, Oklahoma

When is the honey flow in Carter?

• First forage: Feb 1 (dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Main flow: Mar 1 to Jul 15, peaking early Apr (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion)
• Fall flow: Aug 1 to Aug 15 (cotton, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster))
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Carter, 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), 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, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), 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; 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, cotton; extra light amber, likely to set over some months

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 68 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Sorghum: about 57 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi NE, blooms late May – late Jun (grown 2 of the last 5 years)
• Alfalfa: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi S, blooms early May – late Jul (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 Carter

Mostly: Central Mixedgrass Prairie Grassland; Great Plains Comanchian Ruderal Grassland; Western Great Plains Mesquite Shrubland.

Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.22 mi SW; mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.33 mi SW.

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 Carter ranks

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

About 44% 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

Sayre 9 mi · Willow 11 mi · Elk City 13 mi · Canute 19 mi · Sentinel 19 mi · Granite 20 mi

All towns in Oklahoma · 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 Carter (35.2169, -99.5036); 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.