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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 35.9460, -80.3935

Estimated forage here is better than about 43% of sites in North Carolina. Against other North Carolina sites it stands out most in summer (61st percentile) and lowest in spring (34th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi SE, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 63rd percentile (spring 83rd, summer 52nd, fall 20th)
  • North Carolina: 43rd percentile (spring 34th, summer 61st, fall 56th)
  • Piedmont: 68th percentile (spring 56th, summer 85th, fall 82nd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: Mar 1 to Jul 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 55 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 96 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SE, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 19 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 36 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 11 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

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

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.