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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.

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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 36.0964, -89.1182

Estimated forage here is better than about 98% of sites in Tennessee. Against other Tennessee sites it stands out most in summer (98th percentile) and lowest in fall (6th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); cotton (nearest 0.4 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.13 mi SW. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 81st, summer 95th, fall 9th)
  • Tennessee: 98th percentile (spring 20th, summer 98th, fall 6th)
  • Mississippi Valley Loess Plains: 97th percentile (spring 36th, summer 96th, fall 39th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 16 to Jul 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 8,045 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Corn: about 8,344 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 298 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Soybeans: about 97 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 84 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 156 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NE, blooms late May – late 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; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Cotton, 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.
  • 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.