Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

BSF larva chemical signal is very strong. I think stronger than the odor of the rotting vegetable matter. I fed some to the chickens and a fly flew in with them. Then right back out in a hurry

GotFish? Were you able to establish if you had a wild BSF population?

Where do they pupate? I bought some phoenix worms at a local petshop, and seeded a compost bucket with them hoping to lure in some wild BSF. But if I can't, I was hoping that the seeded larvae would pupate on their own. However, I have no idea what conditions to give them. Any ideas?


(the bucket is slanted with cardboard ramps. One BSFL has crawled up so far, but got stuck in a spider web. He's fish food, now...)

Swanberg, they love moist cardnoard and the larvae will shelter in the corrugations. Try a piece of bread lightly soaked in milk on the top as that seems to help attract them and we have found the pupa will sometimes rest on it as they like to wriggle upwards to find a dry place before hatching out. The larvae really do not like light and will go deeper to escape. Try to create a ramp that makes their ascent easier. They are also more active in warmer weather.
Hope this helps.
Faye

Would this give me hope of the BSF still being somewhat active in the Melbourne’s cold winter? Down to 4*C tonite.

Got my BSF pod, blatant DIY copy of somebody else’s idea, thanks johnnymax
siting idly, unbaited for three weeks already, waiting for the spring.

Should I set it up or is it too cold and I ‘d better keep waiting for warmer weather?
Thanks, Steve S

Well Steve, (4 degrees), it is going to be the same here tonight apparently.
Last week there was one on the counter down at the shop, so they are still moving around. Don't like its chance for finding a mate though. The pupas are not developing much at this stage. They will do their thing when they are ready. Why not get it ready with a few worms, the BSF can move in when they are ready. At least it is not sitting doing nothing.

Thanks Faye, will not push my luck, will wait till spring.
Do have plenty worms in the compost heaps, and some in the GBs as well.

BSF grubs showed up in the compost pile a month ago. (I'm in NW Arkansas) I’ve been trying various techniques (short of buying a Biopod) this summer. When I handpicked a bunch of BSF grubs from the compost pile and put them in a container, they did a fair job of self harvesting, so long as there was minimal food in the container. Otherwise, they seemed happy to pupate in situ.

Have been trying this technique for immature grub collection:
http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/2008/07/ ... omment-323
It did take the grubs awhile to find the plastic container with wet fish food on top of the compost pile but they eventually showed up, mostly just below the container but some made it in. I kept making the holes bigger and bigger because the grubs would clot the holes and so would the gnarly stuff they rendered out of wet fish food. (It stinks pretty bad.)

I put black plastic over the pile to minimize light but the birds kept tearing that away, so then I covered with a piece of plywood. They are definitely in the vicinity (some in the tub, many just below) but the technique is not proving to be an adequate harvesting strategy.

Short of buying a BioPod, I'd love to figure out how to collect more cause the catfish love them, even more than worms and definitely more than Japanese beetles.

I'm also curious about the recent comment on putting BSF grubs in GB's. What do they eat and do they propagate? Except for the moisture factor, a GB doesn't seem like it would be a favorable environment.

Seen quite a few adults even in winter ,here in Sydney. Often hanging around the citrus trees.

Do BSF and worms co-exist in compost bins? I think my worm bins turned into BSF breeding grounds last year. Could be a nice combo for fish/chooks/composting.

Great search engine on this site! Answered my question.
Still be good to hear if anyone prefers to grow them together.

BSF larva and compost worms seem to co-exist just fine in my worm bins. My worm bins are not really good for promoting more BSF though as I find many dead larva under my bins where they have climbed out to pupate but found themselves in a less than ideal environment.

Wooo - I have em.

I have a hole that I dump waste from when cutting my own lambs and I opened it up today to find about 100 Flies sitting on the underside of the board.

Now all I need to do is cover the hole with dirt (it is full), and transfer some of it's contents to a harvester... WOOT!

just checked the POD....a heap of fly's hanging around...still has the starter mix I gave it a few days back....but there where eggs in there aswell....

Hoping they are BSF eggs and not house fly eggs...again

A really good BSFL colony is not very conducive to worms. Too much digestive juice in the system. HOWEVER, worms LOVE the leftovers from the BSFLs... Periodically, take a half shovelful of the BSFL cast-off and feed that to the worms and they further process it into HIGH quality fertilizer.

So, worms and BSFLs work well together, though not necessarily in the same bin...

CB

Yep, if you are trying for a perfect worm bin, it probably will not be great for BSF though they could probably survive some in it. In a perfect BSF bin, the worms would be rather hard pressed to thrive.

However, if you are not trying for perfection, only balance, then a single bin can support both.