Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 35.4210, -99.2776

Estimated forage here is better than about 49% of sites in Oklahoma. Against other Oklahoma sites it stands out most in summer (68th percentile) and lowest in fall (35th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cotton (nearest 0.7 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years); sorghum (nearest 0.6 mi SW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); sunflower (nearest 0.8 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.24 mi N. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 55th percentile (spring 77th, summer 45th, fall 44th)
  • Oklahoma: 49th percentile (spring 58th, summer 68th, fall 35th)
  • Central Great Plains: 59th percentile (spring 88th, summer 34th, fall 43rd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: Mar 1 to Jun 15 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
  • Fall flow: Jul 1 to Aug 31 — Cotton, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Cotton: about 828 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Cotton: about 159 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Cotton: about 410 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Cotton: about 823 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.5 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Sorghum: about 9 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SW, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Sunflower: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SW, blooms late May – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Cotton, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Cotton, Garden flowers; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Cotton; 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.
  • Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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.