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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.

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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 33.6632, -101.6853

Estimated forage here is better than about 99% of sites in Texas. Against other Texas sites it stands out most in summer (99th percentile) and lowest in fall (17th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.2 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); sunflower (nearest 0.5 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 1.1 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.33 mi NW. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 88th percentile (spring 72nd, summer 87th, fall 13th)
  • Texas: 99th percentile (spring 48th, summer 99th, fall 17th)
  • High Plains: 100th percentile (spring 96th, summer 95th, fall 12th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Cotton
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Cotton: about 10,483 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 6,097 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 741 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 3,617 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 94 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Sunflower: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NE, blooms late May – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Sunflower; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Cotton; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Cotton, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); 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.