Great design! do you have an instructable or pictures for this project? I’d appreciate it!

Only locations which are submitted with adequate documentation will be used.

Markets exist for the larvae themselves as fish bait, poultry feed, and food for reptiles and frogs kept as pets, but I have not sought to pursue these markets yet.

I started with a standard BioPod after reading about it on http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

Subsequently, I build a plywood bin very similar to the one described in this article. It sits on a stand and I incorporated an effluent drain that drains into a container. The exit ramp has some board strips that channel the exiting grubs into a 2″ PVC tube leading to a covered bucket. The surface areab of the bin at capacity is a bit over 4 sq ft.

My next bin was contructed from a 35 gallon trash can sawed diagonally. I bolted the lid in place and welded/sealed it with a bead of hot melt glue. I incorporated a filter and drain in it as well – along with an effluent container, It’s covered with a sheet of 1/4 inch plywood cut to fit. I suspend a bucket from the open end of the bin and mounted the bin on a stand such that the cut edge is parallel to the ground and the side slopes up at about a 35 degree angle. The grubs march up the bin and collect in the bucket.

My market is for the soldier fly eggs so I was feeding them a mix of soaked and soured cracked corn, Starbucks coffee grounds, saturated horse feed (with molasses) and kitchen scraps to attract the mature, laying female flies. Despite harvesting every single egg cluster I could find, the population exploded and soon I was at full capacity again.

For my next bins, I cut the bottoms out of three 35 gallon plastic garbage cans and buried the open ends 8 inches into the ground. I removed 90 pounds of grubs from my existing bins and seeded each of the garbage cans with them. These bins have no exit ramps though. I planned to feed them until full, harvest eggs from them, and let the grubs finish off the compost at which time it will be innoculated with eisenia foetida to process further into vermiocompost. Again, despite harvesting every egg cluster I can find, each of these bins has exploded in a huge population of baby grubs.

Since the garbage can bins did not allow for exiting grubs, I then built a bin from a 30 gallon Rubbermaid tote that has two sloping exit ramps constructed from 2″pvc pipe. Again, it incorporates a filter and drain for effluent. I’ve been scooping full sized larvae out of my “no exit” bins and allowing them to mature to the crawl off stage from this rubbermaid tote bin.

All the pupating larvae I store in buckets with pine shavings. In two or three weeks, they hatch out and the flies head off into the wild to mate and lay eggs which I then hope to harvest.

Though still seeing some egg laying, it has slowed due to cooler weather here is southwest Florida the last week or two. My next project is to erect a recently purchased 10x10x7 foot greenhouse tent, hatch my pupating BSF within the tent and entice them to mate and lay eggs in some new bins I will locate there.

I am also experimenting with some “in-ground” BSF bins which I will also innoculate with worms once they are completely full.

I have pictures of most of this but have not organized them to share. If you have any particular questions MikeB, let me know and I will try to answer.

I went over to the dark side and started raising Black Soldier Fly larvae exclusively. Now, I raise them commercially. They compost EVERYTHING! Pet waste, meat and dairy products, avian manure, human manure, fish, mammal and poultry viscera, the fruit and vegetable stuff you feed your worms – even bacon fat! The only thing they don’t do well is high cellulose stuff.

I’ve read with particular interest your blog posts on “home made manure”. Let me say this. Running the kitchen scraps thru a blender or food processor is not necessary. Run them instead thru a colony of Black Soldier Fly larvae! They’ll process EVERYTHING! In addition, through bio-remediation, they will eliminate virtually ALL of the harmful pathogens worm farmers tend to worry about with processing pet wastes. Your worms will get rid of what the BSFL don’t! Feeding your worms BSF feces is every bit as safe as feeding them pig, cow, horse, human, or poultry feces. The BSF manure is automatically innoculated with beneficial microbes that make it perfect for a staple food for worms.

In the past, when introducing eisenia foetida worms to a new bin, I had real problems with crawl off. When a mix of moist, aged cardboard chunks and BSF manure is used as a substrate, there is virtually ZERO crawl off in my experience.

I have an abundance of BSF manure. While I could use it all as a soil amendment/mulch for my tropical fruit trees, I have decided to take it a step further and get back into vermicomposting. Presently, I have a colony of eisenia foetida going. But I have a number of bins of BSF feces and am going to experiment with a variety of other composting worms to see which prosper best here in southwest Florida. Perionyx Excavatus are native here, but I am going to try Pheretima hayawana, African Nightcrawlers, and European Nightcrawlers all in separate locations to see which prospers best in my conditions. I will share as data develops.

I would urge all worm farmers to give Black Soldier Fly feces a try as a precursor to feeding your worms. BSF feces won’t overheat, it’s biologically active the moment you feed it, it’s cheaper than livestock feces, it doesn’t stink, it’s moisture content is ideal, and BSF are MUCH easier to raise than other livestock sources of feces!