Black Soldier Fly Cucumber Festival

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com

I added about 6 lbs (2.7 kg) of (mostly) fresh cucumbers to my black soldier fly larvae bio-composting unit. The photos were taken over about a 36 hour period. (My neighbor has a garden and couldn't keep up with the harvest).

Odor typically isn't an issue with BSF composting because the larvae consume the scraps before odor causing bacteria can develop. In this case the colony had a wonderful cucumber smell during the "festival". :)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• biopod
• Hermetia
• illucens
• composting
• soldier
• fly
• flies
• feeding
• larva
• maggot
• bioconversion
• garbage

[guahould]

So I guess I have no hope of attracting black soldier flies in southern Ontario then ... =( ..??

[BlackSoldierFly]

@guahould Probably not, sorry.

[BlackSoldierFly]

If you're composting a lot of high moisture food scraps you might have a drainage issue. It's important to have good drainage in a BSF colony because flooding creates a zone where the larvae can't eat or effectively aerate the waste. This can lead to anaerobic bacteria growth which is noticeable by a bad smell. A balanced BSF colony has a mild and often pleasant odor.

Assuming you have drain holes you can try lining the bottom of your bin with coconut fiber (coir) as a filter medium.

[chevydmax04]

I would like to raise BSF to feed my chickens, the question I have is where do I get the larve to initially get the bin started? I 300+lbs of old produce each week from the grocery store that I compost but I love the idea of soldier fly larve for my chickens

[BlackSoldierFly]

If you live in the southeastern US there is a healthy population of wild black soldier flies. If you live somewhere else you may need to obtain a starter culture of larvae. One source of them are internet companies that sell "Phoenix worms". Those are the same insect.

[CondemnedPatriot]

another question i had, could the leftover waste be used as fertilizer/ compost? or is everything striped?

[BlackSoldierFly]

You can definitely use the residue as a soil enhancement. It's also excellent as a medium for raising worms.

[Jrader80]

I decided to give the BSF their own home. I created a frame to hold a garbage can at an angle. I drilled holes in the bottom and placed a bucket under it to collect their waste. Near the opening I have a funnel into a bucket filled with paper for collection. I filled it with bread, cat waste, fruits and vegetables and some of the larva from the old box. Just now I saw some BSF laying eggs inside. The old bin is going back to anaerobic composting (which is what it was before).

[Jrader80]

Hello,

I have two compost bins in my backyard. One is an earthsaver brand bin, which I put my food waste in. The other is a garbage can I drilled holes into - I put my cat waste in that one (I use wheat and corn based litter and the BSF seem to really like it). The food bin is very active - I'm guessing I have hundreds of thousands of them in there. It has started oozing black goo in the last few weeks. Is this normal?

[Aydee2020]

lol at the title