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 32.6288, -86.3295
Estimated forage here is better than about 84% of sites in Alabama. Against other Alabama sites it stands out most in summer (90th percentile) and lowest in fall (33rd). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.1 mi S, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.7 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.15 mi W. 1 thing to watch (below).
Ranking
- Continental US: 72nd percentile (spring 87th, summer 45th, fall 6th)
- Alabama: 84th percentile (spring 75th, summer 90th, fall 33rd)
- Southeastern Plains: 78th percentile (spring 76th, summer 75th, fall 30th)
Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Alabama, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.
Season
- First forage: Jan 1 — Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
- Main flow: Feb 1 to May 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
- Fall flow: Jun 1 to Jul 31 — Cotton, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
- Season ends: Aug 15
Bee crops nearby
- Cotton: about 298 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms late Jun – early Aug
- Cotton: about 35 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Aug
- Corn: about 14 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms early May – early Jun
- Cotton: about 82 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Aug
- Cotton: about 615 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.9 mi SW, blooms late Jun – early Aug
- Soybeans: about 66 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi W, blooms late Apr – late Jun
What the honey would be made of
- Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion, Cotton; extra light amber
- Summer honey (July and August): Cotton, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers; extra light amber
- Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); amber
- Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Cotton, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion; 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.
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.