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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 33.8113, -102.1621

Estimated forage here is better than about 97% of sites in Texas. Against other Texas sites it stands out most in summer (98th percentile) and lowest in spring (47th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.4 mi E); corn (nearest 1.1 mi NW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); sorghum (nearest 1.0 mi NW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.41 mi W. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 85th percentile (spring 72nd, summer 85th, fall 48th)
  • Texas: 97th percentile (spring 47th, summer 98th, fall 61st)
  • High Plains: 100th percentile (spring 95th, summer 92nd, fall 37th)

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
  • Main flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Cotton
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Cotton: about 9,060 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 1,310 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 1,522 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 72 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 2,509 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.2 mi SW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug

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), Lindens / basswood; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Cotton; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Cotton, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; light 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.
  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.