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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 35.9085, -89.2389

Estimated forage here is better than about 97% of sites in Tennessee. Against other Tennessee sites it stands out most in summer (96th percentile) and lowest in fall (26th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.3 mi S, grown 2 of the last 5 years); cotton (nearest 0.5 mi SE, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.13 mi E. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 89th, summer 92nd, fall 22nd)
  • Tennessee: 97th percentile (spring 54th, summer 96th, fall 26th)
  • Mississippi Valley Loess Plains: 95th percentile (spring 65th, summer 90th, fall 71st)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 16 — Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 16 to Jul 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 6,609 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi E, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 4,678 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SW, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Corn: about 318 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Cotton: about 2,637 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Corn: about 272 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 537 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

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