Why I Love Black Soldier Fly Babies in my Compost

Guest Blogger Cher Mohring

Two of my favorite things: baby animals and free stuff!

On my regularly-scheduled day to take the office food scraps out to the compost bin, I was excited to discover BABY BLACK SOLDIER FLIES! 

If video does not play in your browser, follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOPkFc0fwfM

 

Ok, so baby black soldier flies are technically called “larvae,” and some people may even refer to them as “maggots,” which doesn’t sound as cute, but the real reasons for my excitement were...

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are insatiable feeders of nitrogen-rich decaying materials, like food scraps and manure. In fact, some commercial swine and poultry farms use them to break down their abundance of animal manure.

People actually sell them. I’m not too concerned about someone breaking into our compost bin because the average cost I find online is $9/100, depending on size, but we got them without needing to use any resources to package and transport them.

BSFL are also an excellent source of sustainable protein for animals, like chickens, fish, etc. Some people even buy them to feed wild birds. (I’m going to stick to birdseed myself.)

The main reason I wrote this blog post is so that my fellow composters don’t freak out if they find the larvae or adults in or around their compost bins. The larvae can be rather big, reaching 3/4” in length. The adult fly is also big (about 5/8”) and closely resembles a wasp.  But have no fear – they don’t sting and since they do not consume any food as adults, they don’t even have a mouth to bite you.

I’m not the only one excited about these amazing insects.  Since you obviously like blogs, check out this Black Soldier Fly Blog.