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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 38.0476, -82.1286

Estimated forage here is better than about 51% of sites in West Virginia. Against other West Virginia sites it stands out most in spring (68th percentile) and lowest in summer (5th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.2 mi N.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 56th percentile (spring 90th, summer 21st, fall 46th)
  • West Virginia: 51st percentile (spring 68th, summer 5th, fall 66th)
  • Central Appalachians: 64th percentile (spring 76th, summer 18th, fall 61st)

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, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; 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), Summer-flowering shrubs, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); 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.