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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 39.1321, -85.8606

Estimated forage here is better than about 94% of sites in Indiana. Against other Indiana sites it stands out most in fall (75th percentile) and lowest in spring (56th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); pumpkins (nearest 0.3 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.1 mi W. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 56th, summer 96th, fall 38th)
  • Indiana: 94th percentile (spring 56th, summer 71st, fall 75th)
  • Eastern Corn Belt Plains: 86th percentile (spring 63rd, summer 58th, fall 77th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 1 to Jul 31 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 6,709 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 2,127 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Corn: about 2,608 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Corn: about 177 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 1,443 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi SW, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 730 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Pumpkins, Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar); light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

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.