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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 34.3665, -90.6363

Estimated forage here is better than about 88% of sites in Mississippi. Against other Mississippi sites it stands out most in summer (91st percentile) and lowest in fall (61st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi SE, grown 4 of the last 5 years); cotton (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.6 mi SE, grown 1 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: 92nd percentile (spring 93rd, summer 85th, fall 13th)
  • Mississippi: 88th percentile (spring 71st, summer 91st, fall 61st)
  • Mississippi Alluvial Plain: 58th percentile (spring 55th, summer 60th, fall 50th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 15 — Soybeans, Cotton
  • Fall flow: Aug 1 to Aug 15 — Cotton
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 4,150 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms early May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 2,561 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 1,247 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 3,479 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.9 mi NW, blooms early May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 1,465 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 883 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi NE, blooms early May – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

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