- Author: Pamela Allen
Last week I walked out to my compost bins with the bucket of kitchen waste in hand. I twisted off the top, picked up the bucket, prepared to dump it in and then screamed EEEEEEKKK! What is THAT?
My compost was undulating with movement and sound, crunching and squishing and just EEWWWWW! I set down the kitchen scraps, ran into the house, turned on my computer and typed “Bugs in my compost”. Turns out there is no reason to worry, some people actually pay for the bugs that I got for free! With a little help from the Compost Santa Cruz County website, I determined my compost bins have been absolutely invaded by Hermetia illucens, black soldier fly larvae.
Black soldier flies are not harmful to humans. They do not bite or sting. They are not a vector for human disease. They are remarkably efficient consumers of kitchen waste. The adult fly only survives a few days, however the larvae can live for several weeks all the while consuming huge amounts of food waste. The castings can be used to amend the soil and my chicken flock enjoys any larvae that stray too far from the safety of the bin. They can be purchased from BioGrubs on Amazon.com. By my calculation, I have about $35 worth of larvae in my bin for free! I am over the gross out and now enjoy watching my little guys do their work. If you are interested, you can watch the video of my invasion on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjKJzhPxOsQ. My husband says he won't begin to worry about me unless I begin to give them names!
I continue to add green waste to my bin in the hopes that I can encourage the colonization to last as long as possible!
References
compostsantacruzcounty.org/PDF/Critters.pdf
amazon.com/BioGrubs-Soldier-Larvae-Voracious-Composters/dp/B00HG7BR3Y