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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 46.5802, -89.6035

Estimated forage here is better than about 6% of sites in Michigan. Against other Michigan sites it ranks highest in spring (26th percentile) and lowest in summer (6th). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 23rd percentile (spring 49th, summer 46th, fall 23rd)
  • Michigan: 6th percentile (spring 26th, summer 6th, fall 16th)
  • Northern Lakes and Forests: 13th percentile (spring 16th, summer 12th, fall 29th)

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 Jul 15 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden)
  • Season ends: Sep 30

What the honey would be made of

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