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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 37.6024, -81.6372

Estimated forage here is better than about 41% of sites in West Virginia. Against other West Virginia sites it stands out most in fall (79th percentile) and lowest in summer (17th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.2 mi NW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 54th percentile (spring 87th, summer 27th, fall 48th)
  • West Virginia: 41st percentile (spring 48th, summer 17th, fall 79th)
  • Central Appalachians: 51st percentile (spring 52nd, summer 42nd, fall 75th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: Mar 16 to May 31 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Spring-flowering shrubs
  • Season ends: Oct 31

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Spring-flowering shrubs; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Summer-flowering shrubs, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Summer-flowering shrubs; 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.