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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 35.4633, -89.4009

Estimated forage here is better than about 96% of sites in Tennessee. Against other Tennessee sites it stands out most in summer (93rd percentile) and lowest in fall (20th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi SE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); cotton (nearest 0.2 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.13 mi S. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 95th, summer 88th, fall 18th)
  • Tennessee: 96th percentile (spring 87th, summer 93rd, fall 20th)
  • Mississippi Valley Loess Plains: 92nd percentile (spring 88th, summer 82nd, fall 64th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 5,521 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms early May – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 1,135 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi S, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 95 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms early May – early Jul
  • Soybeans: about 952 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi E, blooms early May – early Jul
  • Corn: about 76 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi W, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Soybeans: about 20 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, 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); extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Cotton, Soybeans; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Cotton, Garden flowers; light 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.
  • 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.