Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)

jaykush

dirty black hands

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Sep 25, 2009

• #81

Jack, I think his problem comes down to economics. Bsf take a much biggeR share of the energy stored up in your scraps. They literally fly away with it.

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not always, i plan to feed the larva to my chickens, and in turn i get free chicken poop.

 

M

maryjohn

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 25, 2009

• #82

yeah good point jay, I was just thinking what manageable predator could complete the cycle in a way that benefits the gardener. duh! chickens!

 

jaykush

dirty black hands

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Sep 25, 2009

• #83

some use them to feed their fish in a aquaponics system. which is just fuckin brilliant.

 

M

maryjohn

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 25, 2009

• #84

jay you should try fermenting some.

bsf extract, it can be sort of like tequila worms

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 26, 2009

• #85

I dub them the Pig of microorganisms. When they finish with a mound of coffee it is like worm castings in the texture.

 

FrankRizzo

Listen to me jerky

• Sep 26, 2009

• #86

If you don't let them out of the area you have them contained they won't turn into adult flies. At least thats my understanding.

Edit: You also have to consider that you can feed them many things that you wouldn't normally be able to put in a traditional compost. Meat, cheese, etc.

 

M

maryjohn

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 26, 2009

• #87

Speaking of which, when am I going to see goats heads?

I am proposing a bsf face off contest.

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 26, 2009

• #88

FrankRizzo said:

If you don't let them out of the area you have them contained they won't turn into adult flies. At least that's my understanding.

Edit: You also have to consider that you can feed them many things that you wouldn't normally be able to put in a traditional compost. Meat, cheese, etc.

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I thought about a closed system before but I believe they pupate no mater what.

 

M

maryjohn

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 26, 2009

• #89

By face off, I meant first one to get the face off. If you can start with skin even better but usually a goat's head is already skinned and ready to boil.

Let's go boys, it's almost Halloween!

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 26, 2009

• #90

maryjohn said:

By face off, I meant first one to get the face off. If you can start with skin even better but usually a goat's head is already skinned and ready to boil.

Let's go boys, it's almost Halloween!

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My tumbler is now a meat free place.. I don't want the ants and flies.

 

M

maryjohn

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 26, 2009

• #91

ok... how about a jack o'lantern face off?

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 26, 2009

• #92

maryjohn said:

ok... how about a jack o'lantern face off?

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If you enter a crew!

 

M

maryjohn

Active member

Veteran

• Sep 26, 2009

• #93

I just found a large rat shaped pile of maggots with fur and a tail in my basement and had to clean it up. basement has been smelling odd for weeks.

I surrender.

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 26, 2009

• #94

maryjohn said:

I just found a large rat shaped pile of maggots with fur and a tail in my basement and had to clean it up. basement has been smelling odd for weeks.

I surrender.

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Died Smokin yer weed I take it?


You're alright friend.

 

O

ourcee

Active member

• Sep 28, 2009

• #95

so I found some "grub lookin thangs" in my compost tumbler and am excited to find out they are BSF larvae.

how should I go about separating them from the tumbler and building a more favorable environment for them? or just build the new compost heap and let em migrate?

and how does one go about harvesting BSF castings anyways?

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 28, 2009

• #96

BSF The Movie..

BSF The Movie..

You know what? I'm not a YouTube Virgin now.

I made a video I hope will get a few reviews from this thread..

So Please enjoy and feel free to email if you will. It is my first internet video.

Jack


Oh yeah; the LINK

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2009

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 28, 2009

• #97

ourcee said:

so I found some "grub lookin thangs" in my compost tumbler and am excited to find out they are BSF larvae.

how should I go about separating them from the tumbler and building a more favorable environment for them? or just build the new compost heap and let em migrate?

and how does one go about harvesting BSF castings anyways?

Click to expand...

If you are careful you may do alright to scoop them up.
Maybe the newest young may be damaged but the more you take care the better any material transfer will be.

The BSF do fine in most containers if you try to keep the temperature no higher than 85 in the sun. The hotter the ambient the more stress on a large community.
Hey share what you do.. These guys fly around Texas and all over the warm zones...

Jack

 

jaykush

dirty black hands

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Sep 28, 2009

• #98

make a trap. fill a mesh bag with the goodness they love. they will go to it. you simply pull it out and put it in whatever you want to culture them in.

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Sep 29, 2009

• #99

About that video..

About that video..

My bad.. I had some samples of songs, not the complete song mind ya, in the audio and so it was muted on YouTube..

Hey.. So I checked and I can share that with friends but not publish it on something like YouTube.

So for my friends of this forum I make it available on LimeWire as "JTG Vid1 BSF_002.wmv"

 

J

JackTheGrower

• Oct 10, 2009

• #100

Since it's October and such..

Cantaloupe and Coffee...