Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,

I last harvested BSF larvae last Sunday 25th of March.....we gathered about a litre and half of larvae.

Yesterday, I detected the telltale signs of BSF larvae.......a sudden reduction in the volume of composting kitchen scraps which has turned black.....so I gathered up the compost (about 15 litres in volume) in a 50 litre tub.

I've just completed separating the larvae from the compost and I've measured three litres......in a week.....from a standing start.

Gary

Gary, excellent yield of BSF larvae. Must be taking up a lot of freezer space. Are you using them as fast as you are producing them?

Several posts ago we were talking about the possibility of feeding BSF to something that could metabolise the fat content healthily. ie something for which a high fat diet was healthy. If the BSF are minced then the following two beasties fit the bill.

One is Hermetia illucens and the other is composting worms (any species).

The slight problem is that while these beasties do really well on high fat diets (abatior and butchers waste for example) they end up being high in fat themselves. Although this can be a good thing if you are feeding them salmon offal (had an article havn't found it again and I need to get off the net to use the phone (but I did find a few other things to add to my Need to Read folder))

Stuart

PS Hermetia illucens is black soldier fly.

Stuart, so you sayng BSF larva are good for feeding BSF and worms?
They must love your compost Gary, going to need another fridge soon?
Nothing new on my experiment a bit chillie for them yet I think. Their still in the poo not much change.

Still in WIPM on my BSF farm - looking more to freezing then drying for storage

Hi Stuart,

Rather than feed BSF larvae meal to worms, I'd be more inclined to use the BSF compost (which retains 50% of its protein level after the BSF have finished with it) to feed the worms. Feeding an ingredient that has a protein level of 40% to worms is really trading down. Feeding it back to BSF would be even more counter-productive.

I'd strongly recommend using the larvae for a higher purpose like feeding fish, quail or chickens. Fat is a feature of the diets of all three.

If BSF larvae are mixed 50:50 with duckweed (a very low fat ingredient), the net result would still be a ration with a useful protein level with a much more acceptable fat level.

In anticipation of harvesting BSF larvae these days, we don't put meat or fish scraps or other volatile wastes into our compost bin. It contains largely vegetable scraps, stale bread and cooking liquids. I figure that a low fat diet should lead to larvae of lower fat content than those that are raised on offal and similar diets.

As I said in an earlier post, if the fat level is an issue, feed it in smaller quantities.

While we are now feeding a good handful each day, we are actually accumulating larvae in anticipation of lower production (we assume) in the colder months.

John, our freezer is still large enough to accommodate plenty more larvae yet. If it becomes an issue, I'll get another freezer.

We are about to trial introducing BSF to an area where they don't seem to live currently. We'll seed some compost bins with juvenile larvae and let them pupate through to adulthood in the hope that the females will mate and fly back to the compost source to lay their eggs.

I suspect that once they're used to being somewhere they will become established........I hope.

Gary

Good luck on the seeding.

Oh dear,

need to work on my humour skills

That last post was meant to be a joke. No point feeding BSF larvae to BSF larvae as you just get less BSF larvae that are still fatty. Also silly with worms as you take a moderately fatty food animal feed it fat and get a high fat animal.

GD said


Feeding fish scraps to your fish is possibly a good idea because a really good way to increase the omega 3 content of your fish is to feed them BSF larvae that have been fed a diet high in omega 3, ie fish.

Seriously though I'm still searching for the next major constituent for my trouts diet.

Likely candiates are slaters, earwigs and termites. Slaters are top of my list because since they are crustacae they represent a very different feed from either worms or BSF.

Hi Stuart,

Oops! Missed the humour.

I guess that's the shortcoming of a print-based communications media - it lacks all of the nuances and non-verbal cues of face-to-face communication.

I agree that variety in the diet is the key. Personally, I'd like to feed worms and larvae......and other things.

Gary

Hi Gary

Where is the area that doesn't have BSF. Is it not in SEQ - cause I thought they were everywhere in SEQ.

Its lucky that its now a moot point or the environmentalist in me would be objecting.

Read the other night that BSF are native to the americas and got spread around the world by modern transportation some time after the second world war.

If you truly don't have them in your area (I'd be amazed from what I've read) it might be more responsible to not try and establish them.


Just comes down to how much of a tree hugging hippy you are.

Hi,

VB.....Murray hasn't seen BSF in his compost bin so we're attempting a seeding operation.

Stuart......let the environmentalist in you do what it wants but let's see if we can persuade it with a little rational debate.

There are over 1300 species of Soldier Fly throughout the world.....some of which are native to Australia.

Let's assume that the Soldier Flies that we're talking about are, in fact, Hermetia Illucens. They have, as you've observed, been here since the Second World War. That makes them more native than most of the people who currently live in Australia.

Unlike foxes, rabbits and cane toads, I have yet to read a single negative word about BSF. In fact, they convert low value, noxious wastes to soil conditioner - very quickly.

While I agree that one ought not introduce foreign species into the environment, the likelihood that I'm impacting the delicate balance of nature by spreading around a few Soldier Flies (in an area where they already live anyway) is small. Don't you agree?

Gary

I think the little flies could hardly be a problem as they do not spread anything, eat up garbage and for the most part stay away from folks as much as possible. Big pluss, they dont bite. No mouth parts.
Gary, I'd think if you duplicated your composte bin conditions at Murrays as well as the seeding you'd be good to go. Of course you had already planned that no doubt. Good luck, cold spell back in my area so the larva are hibernating, I hope.

John, they will not handle below freezing weather. Can you keep them above 45F to be safe? Maybe insulate their container?

Yep they wont freeze, just getting a week of below freezing outside so I'm back to heating the Green house at night. They are cuddled in the warm poop just not as warm as they like it I'm sure.