TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE?
CONSIDER AUSTRALIAN NATIVE STINGLESS BEES FOR YOUR PLOT.
MOST gardeners would know that the act of pollination is no doubt one of the most important natural processes required in order for life to continue existing on this earth.
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred from the male parts (stamens) of one flower to the female parts (pistils) of another, usually of the same genus and species.
Without pollination, the subsequent process of fertilisation (and ultimately seed production) would not occur.
Heaven help this earth and the life on it (including you and I) if pollination were to be threatened……
Which it is.
Since the late 1990s the world’s population of bees, predominantly European honey bees (Apis mellifera), has been in decline due to our overuse of agricultural/garden insecticides, land clearing and climate change.
It’s estimated that populations of honey bees have dropped by 40% in Europe since 2006, 25% in Europe since 1985, and a massive 45% in the United Kingdom since only 2010.
It’s widely accepted that it’s only a matter of time before we see measurable decline in Australia’s honey bee numbers as well.
For many years, commercial growers of certain fruit and nut crops in Australia have been utilising additional assistance from native insects to help pollinate their flowering trees, particularly macadamias, avocados, and blueberries.
Native insects have been pollinating the Australian macadamia nut tree (macadamia integrifolia) for countless millennia, well before European honey bees landed on our shores in the early 1800s.
Those native insects are primarily our wonderful Sugarbag bees, otherwise known as native stingless bees.
Australia has eleven species of native stingless bees, six in the genus Tetragonula, and five in the Austroplebeia genus.
There has been a growing interest in keeping backyard hives of stingless bees over the last ten to fifteen years, but the real history begins in 1987, when a young University of Qld researcher by the name of Tim Heard began investigating the use of these tiny wonders to help increase yields of macadamias in Queensland and New South Wales.
Tim has gone on to become one of the foremost authorities on native bees and, in particular, their valuable contribution to both commercial crop and also home garden pollination.
My interest in stingless bees began about 5 years ago when I observed a swarming hive at a friend’s home at the Gold Coast.
I was immediately intrigued by their fascinating behaviour and hooked on how easy they were to keep in a backyard.
I immediately set about having a hive box made (I’m a horticulturist, not a carpenter!) and then contacted a former TAFE colleague of mine, Russell Zabel, from Australian stingless Native Bees, whom I knew had been working with native bees since hearing of Tim Heard’s work in 1987.
Russell transferred a colony into my hive box in spring 2014, and they have held a prime position in our backyard ever since.
I spoke with Russell this week and he’s kindly passed on the following information about keeping native bees in our southern Queensland home gardens.
Firstly, there are two stingless bee species that will do best in our region, Tetragonula carbonaria, and Austroplebeia australis.
Both are found around the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Brisbane, the Lockyer Valley, Granite Belt, Darling Downs and Burnett regions (as well as further afield), Tetragonula being the most widely kept of the two, and the species recommended by Russell.
The best structure in which to keep stingless bees is a purpose-built hive box called an "OATH" hive (Original Australian Trigona Hive).
Dimensions are roughly 200mm wide, 280mm deep and about 230mm high, split into two sections. Recommended timber is 25mm thick cypress pine, which is light and durable (Russell is now using 40mm thick cypress for added insulation).
A stingless bee hive needs to be fitted to a star picket (they have a mount) and situated in a position that receives maximum winter sun but is shaded by 10am in summer.
My hive is under an evergreen tree in the south western corner of my backyard (facing north-east), where it enjoys warming winter sun until 2pm, but is shaded by 11am in summer.
They do not need a water source nearby, unlike honey bees.
Tetragonula will begin to work only when the temperature hits 18° C or above, preferring to remain in the warmth of their hive when days are colder.
These little wonders will enjoy visiting a range of plants in an ornamental and productive garden, including bottlebrushes, tea-trees, grevilleas, banksias, citrus, blueberries, fried egg trees, magnolias, open brassica flowers and any ubelliferous plant such as an onion, leek or garlic which has been allowed to flower.
The greatest threat to native bees is the wholesale clearing of trees, where they nearly always inhabit hollow sections of trunks and logs.
There are insect predators, such as the wasp-mimicking fly, but native stingless bees are fearless defenders of their nests, usually driving off invaders by smearing them with a material called propolis.
Whether keeping native stingless bees for pollination or pleasure, these little Aussie wonders are worth having as residents in any backyard!
Thanks to Russell Zabel from Australian Stingless Native Bees, for his bee-keeping advice.
For more information contact www.zabel.com.au, 3597 Warrego Highway, Hattonvale (behind the Freedom service station), or email bees@zabel.com.au.