Comments on: About This Blog

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:29:40 +0000

Sara there's a discussion about earthworms and BSFL here. BSF are seasonal.

By: Black Soldier Flies « The MurrTudi Homestead

Black Soldier Flies « The MurrTudi Homestead — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:57:17 +0000

[...] out that the grubs we found in the worm bin are black soldier fly larvae; I identified them with this blog, which is entirely about the wonders of the black soldier fly and it’s larvae. Apparently [...]

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:22:31 +0000

Neat blog! I’m glad i found it, as we just noticed our worm bin has as many of these guys in it as it does red worms!

Do you have any experience with, or have you heard anything about, red worms and BSF larvae co-existing well in the same bin? Our worm bins tend to be too wet because they’re plastic and we throw in too many coffee grounds/tea bags and never enough bedding, so it seems like they’d be perfect for BSF in the wet, slimy patches and good for the worms in the dryer areas of the bin.

Also, I would like to feed some of the larvae to my chickens, but don’t want to completely decimate the BSF population- how many do i have to leave behind to ensure a continuing supply? And are these flies seasonal?

Thanks much for your help!
Sara

By: Deana Rodriguez

Deana Rodriguez — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:50:37 +0000

This information is great! My vermicompost bin, which I have had for 3 years, has developed into a bin with more grubs than worms, and I was very worried these grubs were harmful, or would grow into a destructive bug. My 9 year old and I read your blog and my child’s first response was, “awesome!”

Thank you,
Deana

By: Jack Petrovic

Jack Petrovic — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:34:52 +0000

I cannot say how happy I am to find your site. I am a restaurant gardener for the Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant in St. Louis. We also have a brewery. When the brewers dry hop beer they give me the hop cones to dry in the sun and use and mulch and compost. As the hops dry they become completely infested with BSFL. And I mean thick. They have never bothered anything or me. I have held newly hatched flys for lenghty periods and have never been bitten. I did initially confuse them with March Flys.

They do occasionally crawl out of the hop pile and crawl up between bags of top soil and fertilizer. I think the birds visit often to look for them. I am so happy to know now they are a benificial species and I will continue to propagate them. There is no shortage of Black Soldier Flys in Maplewood Missouri.
Thank you very much.

By: Roberto Díaz Rojas

Roberto Díaz Rojas — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:57:24 +0000

My name is : Roberto Díaz I like to say that is my desire to participate in the Black Soldier Fly Blog. I am a biologist by profession several years ago I’ve been working with Hermetia illucens. Currently I am retired, for many years was professor of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and now I have some tests and to comment on this dipteran.

By: Darkhorse

Darkhorse — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:46:12 +0000

Jerry
I hope things have settled abit for you. I have my bsf in side sections of my large container garden barrels (25gal). I am using pine planar shavings mixed with food scraps and keep a handful on one corner dry for the ones ready to pupate to migrate to. They share food with worms and the resulting nutrients feed the plants. Results are excellent!

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:16:23 +0000

Hi Rebecca,

I’m not really sure about the best way to use the BSF residue. I have a batch that I finished with redworms, but I haven’t gotten around to using it. I’d love to hear what you do with yours.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:02:08 +0000

Hi Jerry,
I recently tried vermicomposting and, though I think the heat killed all the redworms I put in (we dug around and couldn’t find one…), our bin is very alive with BSF larvae. After reading up some on this, I’m really happy about it. What I am wondering is, can we use the compost left by the BSF, or does it need any additional processing?
Thanks!

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:07:02 +0000

Hi Lindsey,

If you have BSF larvae in your compost buckets they will crawl away when they mature (dark brown color) in search of a safe dry place to pupate. If there is even a slight gap under your closed doors they may be entering that way. Seeing the adult BSF in the room would not lead to there being larvae there unless the adults found food waste to lay their eggs on, and then it would take about a month of the larvae feeding on it to develop. For that reason I think they’re simply crawling in under your doors.

I am a little concerned as I don’t want these larvae inside the house as you can probably imagine.

Yes and no; I understand that people worry about fly larvae, but there is no more risk from having a BSF larvae in your house than there would be if a butterfly flew in. If I saw a BSF larvae in my house I would simply pick it up and place it outside so it could pupate and continue the important role that BSF fulfill in nature. Wash your hands afterward just as you would if you petted a strange dog. All stages of black soldier flies are harmless. They can’t bite or sting and they aren’t vectors of human disease.

Now for the good part; You have BSF, you have buckets full of compost, you can easily enjoy utilizing your BSF in the most rapid and productive form of composting I know of. With amazing speed the BSF will process meats (in limited quantities) dairy, fats and virtually anything that you eat. Done properly there is almost no odor and if you have children they will learn an important lesson about our relationship with the natural world.

Please let me know if you need further advice.