Honey bee forage in Starbuck, Washington

When is the honey flow in Starbuck?

• First forage: Feb 16 (dandelion, weedy mustards, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard))
• Main flow: Mar 16 to Aug 15, peaking late Jun (spotted and diffuse knapweed, native wildflowers, clovers: white, alsike and red)
• Fall flow: Sep 1 to Sep 15 (yellow starthistle, spotted and diffuse knapweed, green/yellow rabbitbrush)
• Season ends: Oct 31

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Starbuck, 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 Apr 16.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): dandelion, native wildflowers, clovers: white, alsike and red, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Summer honey (July and August): spotted and diffuse knapweed, yellow starthistle, alfalfa, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Fall honey (September to November): spotted and diffuse knapweed, green/yellow rabbitbrush, yellow starthistle, rubber rabbitbrush; amber
• Whole season (March to November): spotted and diffuse knapweed, yellow starthistle, native wildflowers, dandelion; 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

• Apples: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SE, blooms early Apr – late Apr
• Alfalfa: about 22 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi S, blooms early Jun – late Jul (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 40 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug (grown 2 of the last 5 years)
• Sunflower: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi SE, blooms early Jun – early Aug (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 Starbuck

Mostly: Columbia Plateau Steppe and Grassland; Columbia Basin Foothill and Canyon Dry Grassland; Great Basin & Intermountain Introduced Annual Grassland.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0 mi S; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.09 mi NE.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 76% of acres in Washington (2025); Peaches: insecticides used on about 86% 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 Starbuck ranks

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

Nearby

Dayton 16 mi · Waitsburg 17 mi · Prescott 18 mi · Washtucna 18 mi · LaCrosse 21 mi · Kahlotus 22 mi

All towns in Washington · 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 Starbuck (46.5216, -118.1289); 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.