Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see what blooms within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more) and when, the gaps in the season, 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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Forage report for 36.6299, -76.1660

Estimated forage here is better than about 100% of sites in Virginia. Against other Virginia sites it stands out most in summer (100th percentile) and lowest in fall (1st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 4 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.2 mi N.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 90th, summer 93rd, fall 3rd)
  • Virginia: 100th percentile (spring 89th, summer 100th, fall 1st)
  • Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain: 100th percentile (spring 77th, summer 98th, fall 5th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 16 to Jul 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Jul 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 7,029 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early May – late Jul
  • Corn: about 932 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Corn: about 775 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Corn: about 165 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi N, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Corn: about 587 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi E, blooms late May – late Jun
  • Corn: about 84 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi NE, blooms late May – late Jun

What the honey would be made of

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

Things to watch

  • 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.