Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 47.7990, -119.9858

Estimated forage here is better than about 27% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (68th percentile) and lowest in summer (5th). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 0.1 mi S); cherries (nearest 0.6 mi NE). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, 0.12 mi E. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 57th percentile (spring 77th, summer 49th, fall 68th)
  • Washington: 27th percentile (spring 66th, summer 5th, fall 68th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 64th percentile (spring 92nd, summer 14th, fall 47th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Weedy mustards, Cherries
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to May 15 — Apples, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Fall flow: Jun 16 to Jun 30 — Snowberry, Native wildflowers, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Apples: about 275 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 68 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi S, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 8 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi S, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 303 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.3 mi NE, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 67 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi SW, blooms late Apr – early May

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Apples, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Native wildflowers; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle, Native wildflowers, Snowberry; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Yellow starthistle, Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Rubber rabbitbrush; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Apples, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle, Dandelion; 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.
  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.