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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 37.8766, -75.5885

Estimated forage here is better than about 96% of sites in Virginia. Against other Virginia sites it stands out most in summer (97th percentile) and lowest in fall (14th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here); corn (nearest 0.1 mi E, grown 2 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: 82nd percentile (spring 80th, summer 81st, fall 10th)
  • Virginia: 96th percentile (spring 56th, summer 97th, fall 14th)
  • Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain: 76th percentile (spring 48th, summer 82nd, fall 21st)

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

Season

  • First forage: Feb 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: May 16 to Jul 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 379 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Corn: about 213 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Corn: about 289 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SE, blooms early Jun – early Jul
  • Soybeans: about 40 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NW, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 372 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi S, blooms late May – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 112 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms late May – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

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