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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 35.3997, -97.9075

Estimated forage here is better than about 6% of sites in Oklahoma. Against other Oklahoma sites it ranks highest in summer (27th percentile) and lowest in spring (8th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.1 mi S, grown 2 of the last 5 years); sorghum (right here, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 1.6 mi S). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.13 mi NE. 3 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 21st percentile (spring 47th, summer 37th, fall 36th)
  • Oklahoma: 6th percentile (spring 8th, summer 27th, fall 25th)
  • Central Great Plains: 4th percentile (spring 46th, summer 21st, fall 35th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion
  • Main flow: Mar 1 to Aug 15 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Cotton
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Cotton: about 37 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Sorghum: about 16 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Sorghum: about 25 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Alfalfa: about 189 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi S, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Sunflower: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms late May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 64 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

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

Things to watch

  • Lots of crops with little or no bee value. About 44% of the land within 3 miles is in crops bees get little from (such as wheat and other grains).
  • 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.
  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (A) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.