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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 42.2916, -85.4164

Estimated forage here is better than about 68% of sites in Michigan. Against other Michigan sites it stands out most in spring (80th percentile) and lowest in summer (65th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi N, grown 4 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.7 mi W, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.24 mi NW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 79th percentile (spring 76th, summer 79th, fall 63rd)
  • Michigan: 68th percentile (spring 80th, summer 65th, fall 67th)
  • Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains: 29th percentile (spring 87th, summer 25th, fall 62nd)

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: Apr 1 to Aug 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 23 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 216 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 64 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 53 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 14 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 393 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi S, 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), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans, Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Soybeans, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar); extra 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.