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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 48.0528, -119.8999

Estimated forage here is better than about 31% of sites in Washington. Against other Washington sites it stands out most in fall (70th percentile) and lowest in summer (7th). Biggest nearby bee crops: apples (nearest 0.4 mi NW); cherries (nearest 0.4 mi N). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, less than 0.1 mi away. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 62nd percentile (spring 78th, summer 55th, fall 71st)
  • Washington: 31st percentile (spring 67th, summer 7th, fall 70th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 70th percentile (spring 92nd, summer 22nd, fall 52nd)

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
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to May 15 — Apples, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Fall flow: Jul 1 to Jul 15 — Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle, Native wildflowers
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Apples: about 518 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi NE, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 49 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi NW, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 97 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 125 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi E, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 393 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May
  • Apples: about 27 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms late Apr – early May

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Apples, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Weedy mustards; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle, Native wildflowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Yellow starthistle, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Apples, 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.
  • 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.