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 46.7252, -120.6912

Estimated forage here is better than about 72% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in spring (80th percentile) and lowest in summer (13th). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 0.2 mi S); cherries (nearest 0.6 mi E); alfalfa (nearest 0.4 mi E, 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. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 88th percentile (spring 98th, summer 61st, fall 74th)
  • Washington: 72nd percentile (spring 80th, summer 13th, fall 75th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 96th percentile (spring 99th, summer 39th, fall 63rd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Willows, Cherries
  • Main flow: May 1 to May 15 — Apples
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Apples: about 4,087 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi SW, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 528 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 162 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms early May – late May
  • Apples: about 97 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms early May – late May
  • Cherries: about 191 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 188 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi NW, blooms early May – late May

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Apples, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Willows; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Alfalfa, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Apples, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Alfalfa; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 76% of acres in Washington (2025); Cherries, sweet: insecticides used on about 93% of acres in Washington (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.
  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (AE) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.