Honey bee forage in Hollow Rock, Tennessee

When is the honey flow in Hollow Rock?

• First forage: Feb 1 (dandelion, early trees (maple, willow, poplar), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Main flow: Mar 1 to Jul 15, peaking late May (soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion)
• Season ends: Sep 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Hollow Rock, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on Mar 30.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): clovers: white, alsike and red, soybeans, dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): soybeans, cotton, clovers: white, alsike and red, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), cotton, garden flowers; light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Whole season (March to November): soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Soybeans: about 185 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, blooms late May – late Jul (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Cotton: about 186 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 162 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi SE, blooms early Jun – early Jul (grown 1 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around Hollow Rock

Mostly: Southeastern Native Ruderal Forest; East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest; East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest.

Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.03 mi NE; mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.06 mi W.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Cotton: insecticides used on about 39% 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.

How Hollow Rock ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

About 62% of the land here is scored with national averages for its vegetation type rather than measured plant cover, so the wild-plant part of this estimate is rougher than the crop part.

Nearby

Bruceton 1 mi · Huntingdon 9 mi · Camden 9 mi · Holladay 13 mi · Clarksburg 13 mi · Yuma 14 mi

All towns in Tennessee · National map · How the scoring works

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. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of Hollow Rock (36.0353, -88.2692); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.