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Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

Or tap the map. We don't store your address or exact location.

The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 26.5250, -99.0999

Estimated forage here is better than about 22% of sites in Texas. Against other Texas sites it ranks highest in fall (31st percentile) and lowest in summer (11th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.4 mi SW, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.18 mi NW. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 26th percentile (spring 52nd, summer 6th, fall 27th)
  • Texas: 22nd percentile (spring 25th, summer 11th, fall 31st)
  • Southern Texas Plains: 79th percentile (spring 78th, summer 72nd, fall 23rd)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Texas, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

  • First forage: Jan 1 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion
  • Main flow: Jan 1 to Apr 30 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden)
  • Fall flow: May 16 to May 31 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Season ends: Dec 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Cotton: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms late May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi SW, blooms late May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi W, blooms late May – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Rabbitbrush, Garden flowers, Cotton; amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Rabbitbrush, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; dark amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Rabbitbrush, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber

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.
  • Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.