Honey bee forage in Dodd City, Texas

When is the honey flow in Dodd City?

• First forage: Jan 16 (dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), native wildflowers)
• Main flow: Feb 16 to Jun 15, peaking late Mar (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion)
• Fall flow: Jul 1 to Aug 15 (fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Dodd City, 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 16.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, native wildflowers; extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; light amber, likely to set over some months
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); amber
• Whole season (March to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; light amber, likely to set over some months

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

Bee crops within flight range

• Corn: about 32 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms late May – late Jun (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Cotton: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Soybeans: about 5 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi N, blooms early May – 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 Dodd City

Mostly: Texas Blackland Tallgrass Prairie; East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland; Southeastern Great Plains Riparian Forest and Woodland.

Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river 0.19 mi W; mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.35 mi SE.

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 Dodd City ranks

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

About 69% 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

Windom 4 mi · Bonham 7 mi · Honey Grove 10 mi · Bailey 11 mi · Ector 11 mi · Ravenna 12 mi

All towns in Texas · 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 Dodd City (33.5757, -96.0755); 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.