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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 34.4854, -88.1858

Estimated forage here is better than about 76% of sites in Mississippi. Against other Mississippi sites it stands out most in summer (85th percentile) and lowest in spring (58th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.1 mi S); soybeans (nearest 0.7 mi SE, grown 3 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: 80th percentile (spring 87th, summer 73rd, fall 12th)
  • Mississippi: 76th percentile (spring 58th, summer 85th, fall 59th)
  • Southeastern Plains: 88th percentile (spring 76th, summer 92nd, fall 52nd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Jan 16 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: Feb 16 to Jun 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Fall flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Cotton
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Cotton: about 566 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 57 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi S, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 209 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi N, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Cotton: about 123 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 355 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.7 mi NE, blooms early May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi E, 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), Soybeans; 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.