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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.

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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 45.0632, -85.5971

Estimated forage here is better than about 79% of sites in Michigan. Against other Michigan sites it stands out most in spring (100th percentile) and lowest in summer (17th). Biggest nearby bee crops: cherries (nearest 0.2 mi NW). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 84th percentile (spring 98th, summer 59th, fall 44th)
  • Michigan: 79th percentile (spring 100th, summer 17th, fall 39th)
  • North Central Hardwood Forests: 82nd percentile (spring 100th, summer 6th, fall 6th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: May 1 to May 31 — Cherries, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Season ends: Aug 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Cherries: about 1,007 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 29 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 87 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi SW, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 20 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 72 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi W, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 124 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi N, blooms early May – late May

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Cherries, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Spring-flowering shrubs; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Alfalfa; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Alfalfa, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Cherries, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Cherries, sweet: insecticides used on about 84% of surveyed US acres (2025); Cherries, tart: insecticides used on about 45% of surveyed US acres (2025). 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.