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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 41.9857, -84.3494

Estimated forage here is better than about 93% of sites in Michigan. Against other Michigan sites it stands out most in summer (85th percentile) and lowest in spring (57th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.3 mi SE); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi N); corn (nearest 0.4 mi SW, 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 66th, summer 90th, fall 59th)
  • Michigan: 93rd percentile (spring 57th, summer 85th, fall 60th)
  • Eastern Corn Belt Plains: 27th percentile (spring 74th, summer 25th, fall 93rd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Dandelion
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 31 — Soybeans, Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 285 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 235 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 310 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 150 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 150 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 395 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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