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.

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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 40.8592, -85.6007

Estimated forage here is better than about 50% of sites in Indiana. Against other Indiana sites it stands out most in fall (85th percentile) and lowest in summer (36th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi NW, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi NW, 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: 90th percentile (spring 76th, summer 89th, fall 45th)
  • Indiana: 50th percentile (spring 74th, summer 36th, fall 85th)
  • Eastern Corn Belt Plains: 29th percentile (spring 83rd, summer 22nd, fall 84th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 947 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 3,329 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 240 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 3,624 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 34 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 150 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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