I’ve been tossing up between getting traditional bees and Australian native stingless bees. The advantages of native stingless bees are that they do not sting and therefore you need less equipment. They help pollinate the garden, essential for many fruits and vegetables. They produce amazing honey but only a small amount (less than 1 kg per hive per year).
There is no legal requirement to register hives of native bees in Australia.
Native stingless bees are available around Brisbane from the following places:
Trigona carbonaria (Common in southern Queensland and NSW)
Australian Native Bee Crop Pollination Service – Mark Grosskopf – Maryvale (in boxes with new queens)
Phone: 0438 623 734
Website: www.croppollination.com.au
Peter Davenport – Elanora (in boxes)
Phone: 07 5533 9383
Tony Goodrich – Brisbane (in boxes)
Also supplies OATH hive boxes
Phone: 07 3878 2322
Mobile: 0449 746 970
Donate your good quality (as new) books, cd and dvds to a local library.
If you ever need them again, you can always borrow them out. In the meantime, you are allowing other people to use this resource. This is an example of the permaculture value (ethics) of fair share – Using the earth’s limited resources in ways that are equitable and wise.
Unfortunately due to an overwhelming demand since Cyclone Yasi, there is a six month waiting list for banana plants! So I’m going to have to put my banana growing plans on hold. Here’s some of the information I discovered while conducting research.
Bananas require full sunlight for most of the day. They do best is a sheltered area where the roots will not become flooded. The best time to plant is from September to mid-December.
They require a large amount of plant nutrients to grow and fruit. (800 grams of lime, 240 gram of urea, 30 grams of super
Residential growers in south Queensland require a permit to grow a maximum of 10 plants. Permits are free of charge and made to Biosecurity (currently part of the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries).
The only permitted varieties are:
Blue Java – Silvery wax bloom, white flesh, dessert and cooking
Bluggoe (plantain or cooking banana) – angular fruit
Kluai Namwa Khom (Dwarf Ducasse) – fragrant sweet flavour, dessert and cooking, very vigorous. Referred to as sugar banana.
Goldfinger – tangy tasting, doesn’t turn brown when cut
Pissang Ceylan -pinkish midribs on leaves, agreeably sweet acid
There is currently only ONE supplier in Queensland – Blue Sky Backyard Bananas – each plant costs $30 each including postage.
Further information
Agrilink produce a Tropical banana information kit as a series of PDFs. The kit provides information on all aspects of growing tropical bananas in Queensland.
Posted by littlem 
– making your community more resilient in uncertain times
