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Tag Archives: attracting BSF

Attracting black soldier flies with corn

Once the BSF are established the result is a nearly odor-free process, but in the beginning it’s best to have a strong odor so the females can locate the unit. I like using fermented corn because even though it has a strong odor I don’t find it as offensive as most rotting food. It’s not a smell that I necessarily like, but it’s one I can live with during the set up phase and once I’ve got a dense colony I can go back to the normal, mild and pleasant odor of a balanced BSF composter.

Posted 28 April 2010 † Jerry § Establishing a new colony ‡ Comments (9) ° Also tagged: ,

refreshing the colony

Starting my third year with the black soldier fly I’m going into this season with a small colony made up of grubs that were laid last fall. Where I live the winters are mild so it was fairly easy to maintain the colony through the cool months. At the end of last summer my BioPod [...]

Posted 03 May 2009 † Jerry § Raising black soldier fly larvae § The BioPod § Vermiculture and BSF composting ‡ Comments (9) ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

My new BIOPOD™ by ProtaCulture™

After working with and blogging about black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) for over a year I finally have one of the first BioPods. For the past year I’ve been getting by with my homemade unit and I’m looking forward to testing this product. With that previous experience I’m pretty familiar with the shortcomings of [...]

Posted 11 July 2008 † Jerry § Raising black soldier fly larvae § The BioPod § Vermiculture and BSF composting ‡ Comments (13) ° Also tagged:

getting started – Attracting the BSF

To establish black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) you first need to attract the adult (winged) females so they can lay their eggs. To do this you need to bait them with some type of food. Types of food for baiting BSF You may use almost any food scraps, but I’m experimenting with different types to [...]

Posted 28 May 2008 † Jerry § Raising black soldier fly larvae ‡ Comments (10) ° Also tagged: ,

My First Attempt to Attract Black Soldier Flies – May 2007

As soon as I realized that black soldier flies were present around my home I put some food scraps into a bucket with a lid and cut a few small holes into the sides. BSF will crawl through a small opening to access a food source for their eggs. They don’t eat in their winged [...]

Posted 24 May 2008 † Jerry § My first year raising BSF ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: