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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 32.6822, -81.1882

Estimated forage here is better than about 29% of sites in South Carolina. Against other South Carolina sites it ranks highest in summer (41st percentile) and lowest in spring (14th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); cotton (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 46th percentile (spring 69th, summer 22nd, fall 10th)
  • South Carolina: 29th percentile (spring 14th, summer 41st, fall 37th)
  • Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain: 13th percentile (spring 23rd, summer 24th, fall 22nd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Jan 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: Feb 1 to Jun 15 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden)
  • Fall flow: Jul 1 to Jul 15 — Cotton
  • Season ends: Dec 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 41 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms early May – early Jun
  • Corn: about 43 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi SW, blooms early May – early Jun
  • Corn: about 23 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, blooms early May – early Jun
  • Cotton: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi N, blooms early May – early Jun
  • Corn: about 66 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi SE, blooms early May – early Jun

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): Cotton, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Garden flowers; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Cotton, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs; 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.