DIY black soldier fly bucket composter - part 1

[baracuduck]

is there a mite occuring because of humidity and spoiled vegetables ? thank you

[sys49512]

Plastic with BPA (Bisphenol-A) are poison.

Please double check as far as is anyway possible.

[Venominme]

I had a hard time getting my velcro to stick through the humidity and grubs burrowing under the strip. Have you had to reglue it and what have you found that works?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@Venominme I've had good luck with velcro sticking. Be sure not to stretch it while you apply it and clean the bucket with alcohol first. After placing the velcro take the back of a spoon and press the velcro with good pressure. The velcro and the bucket should be the same temp when you apply it. I used velcro "ultra thin" which seems more rigid. Velcro cures for 24 hrs so its best to keep it dry for a day. If you have a section that fails you can cut it out, clean it well, and fill it with new.

[dmacosta1]

i like it

[MrGreenbudha]

i will be building that when i get my own land!

[BlackSoldierFly]

@MrGreenbudha I just finished publishing an updated version of this composter on my blog. You really don't need land to operate a BSF unit. I know a person that lives in an eight floor apartment in Houston and he keeps a BSF unit on his balcony. If you operate it properly there are no offensive odors and since the adult BSF only come to lay eggs and then disappear they don't bother neighbors, they're rarely even seen.

[MrGreenbudha]

@BlackSoldierFly do you know of anyone that is doing it in canada? ontario even?

[xpsyclonex2002]

@BlackSoldierFly when you release BSF larva to help re-populate the composter, where do they turn to adults? Do they burrow in the ground? Climb up it trees? etc? I ask because I am interested in creating a closed loop system to contain a system. I would allow a small amount of larva to go free within an enclosed space that way they can only go back to the compost bin to lay eggs. I just want to make sure that the enclosed space has what they need to convert to adults.

[BlackSoldierFly]

@xpsyclonex2002 You can keep them in a few inches of sawdust but if ambient humidity is too low they can dry out and die. If released in nature I guess they burrow into the ground or under loose debris. They need to be able to climb up and out of the material when they emerge as adults and compacted soil seems like it would be too difficult for them.

[xpsyclonex2002]

@BlackSoldierFly Sweet. I was worried that they needed to hang from something. I couldn't think of a way they could do that without legs. Do you have a time frame from when they burrow to when the adults emerge?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@xpsyclonex2002 It depends on temperature mostly. In south Georgia mating stops in October and resumes in mid April. The adults emerging in April spent the winter pupating. In contrast; in warm weather BSF spend about two weeks as mature larvae and another two weeks pupating.

[xpsyclonex2002]

@BlackSoldierFly I used to live in Jesup. Small world.

[MachinaApotheosis]

wow great job! So how successful has this model been for you?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@MachinaApotheosis It's coming along pretty well. I'm just now beginning to harvest a good number of mature larvae. I shot a few videos of the progress and I'll be uploading them soon. Thanks.