Thousands of Grubs in Compost ( picture and video )

[AmyRey]

Oh yay!

I have TONS of these in my compost bin:

You turn it and the compost just seethes with them. Ewwww.
But I wasn't sure what they were so I was kinda hesitant about giving them to the girls.

Maybe these flies are what's keeping my houseflies at bay lately and not the DE I've been using? lol

Going to Google what an adult BSF looks like so I'll know if I see one.

 

[geedub]

Here ya' go AmyRey:

The legs are the easiest way to spot them.

And here's a thread I started at the BioPod forum about identifying BSF: http://thebiopod.com/forum/index.php?topic=29.0

 

[AmyRey]

Yep. I'll be looking from now on.

So these are chicken safe and will collect themselves if I put a container and ramp in my bin, right?

But I assume I want to leave SOME larvae for the next batch of flies, right?

 

[TXmom]

I have those "grubs" in my compost bin outside.

I live west of Houston, in Austin County, TX. I didn't attract them on purpose, but I often put the rotten produce that I find in the back of the fridge in my compost, along with egg shells, kitchen waste that I don't feed to the chickens, coffee grounds, pine shavings and chicken manure from the coop. I didn't know what kind of bug they were, but now I do...that's great!

 

[sweet tweets]

ooooh - I want BSF larve - are they in San Diego? How would I find out?
I am out of time to read the rest of the posts and links but I am so interested.
I have friends that bring grubs from their compost when they come to pick up eggs, lol (not an equal trade, they still have to anty up a bit of cash).

 

[AmyRey]

They do seem to like kitchen scraps better than yard waste.

And banana peels seem to send them into more of a tizzy than anything else I've noticed.

 

[geedub]

AmyRey, BSF can't digest high cellulose items like grass and paper. They can and do eat almost everything else including citrus peels, onions and most types of manure. They love coffee grounds for some reason and seem particularly fond of melon. They will shred paper and they might even swallow it if it has food on it, but they can't get any nutrition from it. (I'm never 100% sure of anything.

)

Sweet tweets, I'm pretty sure San Diego has BSF. If you can identify the grubs that your friend brings we'll know for sure.

If you want to experiment with containing a BSF colony in something that gives you more control than a compost bin you might be interested in my DIY Bucket BSF Bio-composter. Here's version 1.1 with lower drain hole and a knob with two functions

:

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/2009/08/13/do-it-yourself-bsf-bucket-bio-composter/

This design won't constantly auto-harvest the grubs, but you can still partially automate it to some extent. I'll be writing a page describing how to operate it soon.

 

[remarkikkin]

I love when my different worlds collide! I was just researching black soldier fly larvae for gardening reasons. Here's the best post ever on the little creatures:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg0401113220154.html

Kelly Slocum knows her stuff!

Using Kelly's info to answer someone's question above, they leave the pile to find a nice spot in the dirt to hatch into an adult fly (which is not harmful to you or your garden - adults don't even have mouths!).

My chickens love them too! It's a tough choice some days, let them do their work in my compost pile or treat the birds!

 

[journey11]

I always wondered what those were. Sometimes they're in there, sometimes not. Never thought of giving them to the chickens...(I have a tumbler). They like to pick the red wriggler worms out of my other compost pile though. They aerate it for me!

 

[geedub]

Quote:
When I read this I was immediately jealous because I want MY posts to be the best.

Then I read Kelly's post and I'll be darned if it isn't the best brief description of BSF I've ever read. I was surprised that I hadn't come across her writing before but I see that she is more into vermiculture than BSF. I would love to read more from her about BSF but as far as I can tell she isn't running a website. If someone has a source where she goes into more detail BSF I would appreciate a link.