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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 38.5738, -98.6161

Estimated forage here is better than about 16% of sites in Kansas. Against other Kansas sites it ranks highest in summer (40th percentile) and lowest in spring (25th). Biggest nearby bee crops: sorghum (nearest 0.1 mi NW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi SE, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.5 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.1 mi W.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 43rd percentile (spring 42nd, summer 71st, fall 40th)
  • Kansas: 16th percentile (spring 25th, summer 40th, fall 36th)
  • Central Great Plains: 30th percentile (spring 32nd, summer 58th, fall 38th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion
  • Main flow: Jun 1 to Jul 31 — Soybeans, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Sorghum: about 177 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 49 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms late May – early Aug
  • Sorghum: about 57 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 21 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Sorghum: about 22 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Sorghum: about 34 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Alfalfa, Soybeans, Dandelion; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Soybeans, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Alfalfa, Soybeans, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); 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.