Maggots. Icky. Ewww! Yuck. Ok, got that out. Did you even know this could happen?! Have you been afraid to ask about, admit to it, because it’s so ugly? Ok, gardener therapy time…. Maggots are really nothing weird, they are the larvae of black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens), often referred to as BSF, a native-to-the-Americas fly whose amazing environmental usefulness is now known. In fact, you may already know BSF as Phoenix Worms, sold in Pet stores as food for fish, birds and reptiles. They became the first feeder insect to be granted a U.S. registered trademark in 2006!
They don’t look like I expected, and, instead, are rather interesting and polite! Adults do not sting or bite, don’t carry diseases, do not feed at all. They mate, look for a place to lay eggs, die within 2 days! There are a lot of different ones and the males differ from the females. If you see pale yellow or cream colored eggs in masses that contain as many as 500 eggs, my response now is Thank you! Some wonder if they’re cockroach eggs. They’re not, thank goodness! The grubs, maggots, or larvae, can be anywhere from white to a dark brown. More about them
Answer ONE! Maggots are not going to hurt your compost, but they may be a sign that your balance of green materials/brown materials is off. Make sure you are adding enough (but not too much) brown stuff like straw. Also it may be too moist; it should feel like a wrung out sponge. If it is too wet or has too much green material (food waste, grass, fresh leaves) in relation to brown, it can become slimy and rotten smelling and attract lots of maggots. If you really can’t stand them you can get some lime (this is organic) and dust your compost with it. It will deal with the maggots and you will still have good compost, but it will increase the pH of the compost.
A word about LIME – Liming
It is normally not necessary to add lime to your compost pile to improve the breakdown of most yard wastes. Finished compost is usually slightly alkaline. If you add lime during the decomposition process, it will probably be too alkaline when completed. If your pile contains large amounts of acidic materials such as pine needles or fruit wastes, you might add lime, but no more than one cup per 25 cubic feet of material. Excessive lime application can lead to loss of nitrogen from the compost pile.
Answer TWO! OR, decide to HAVE maggots!!!! You’ve seen the dead dry ones in your garden many times. Alive they make compost in record time! The material they are working fairly seethes. Here is a fab SFGate link all about them: Yucky but useful: Maggots make compost by Maria Gaura, Special to The Chronicle Saturday, July 26, 2008. It’s a read for the brave, but believe it or not, it will make you laugh! And change your ways of thinking about your compost! Did you ever think you would see these words? ‘While we’re waiting for our first shipment of BSF larvae to arrive…‘
I first posted this August 19, 2011. Per the London, Jan. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — According to a new market research report titled “Black Soldier Fly Market by Product Type (Protein Meal, Whole Dried Larvae, Oil, Biofertilizer, Live Insect, Chitin/Chitosan), Application (Animal Feed, Agriculture, Pet Food, Pharmaceutical, and Cosmetics), and Geography- Global Forecast to 2030”, published by Meticulous Research®, the global black soldier fly market will grow at a CAGR of 33.3% from 2019 to 2030 to reach $2.57 billion by 2030! See more details
BSFs are big business! Besides food for you fish, pet reptiles and chickens, they are sold to compost making businesses as well as the gear sold for those businesses. They’re also used in forensic entomology to clean bones bare. At your garden, what the maggots leave, your red worm casting making worms can eat! And, btw, maggots have no gentile needs like your delicate worms. They will eat anything biodegradable, even mountains of orange peel from the juice industry!
BSF larvae convert biowaste to protein! When they are done with your compost, they can be ground up into protein powder to feed other animals like fish you may be raising! As of Dec 2019 Forbes called BSFs The New Superstars of Sustainable Aquaculture and that they are revolutionizing the Aquaculture industry, Aquaculture production has more than doubled in the past 15 years!
There was a blog called Black Soldier Fly Blog?!?! Sure! It featured a sophisticated DIY specialized composter, with how-to image after image and videos! The page had no less than 188 comments!
Here is a Houzz page with a LOT of great comments, and it explains and debunks myths about BSF! Especially read comments by Kelly_Slocum.
So how do you and I, home gardeners, use BSFs in our humble little gardens?
Of first importance is having enough for them to eat! Worms are much slower and may be perfect for your needs. See more Grow Garden Worms, Harvest Castings! If you have a big family and a lot of scraps, access to a grocery store waste or restaurant scraps, consider trying maggots. Soldier fly bins can be sized for a backyard or scaled up for a commercial operation.
On the flip side, you can’t fill the BSF bin full over and over because in time trying to get compost – you only get a little volume at a time, the acidity increases too much. The pH is thrown off with over-feeding. It’s going to take a little trial and error. Slower is probably better to start.
If your worms are in a container, do not combine the grubs with your worms! Alison Collin, Master Gardener of Inyo/Mono counties threw rotting windfall apples into an open stock tank. When she needed the tank, she was shocked to find it full of maggots! She advises: …though Black Soldier Fly larvae and red worms both like the same food, the fly larvae are extremely active [crowd out the worms and leave no food for the worms], like warm, moist conditions, and their leachate makes the soil acidic which is not good for worms. So if you have worm bins it is prudent to check them from time to time and remove any Black Soldier Fly larvae that may be present.
If your worms are in an outdoor compost pile, Anne Baley has some common sense advice: Encourage them in your compost pile by keeping green material, kitchen waste, near the top of the heap instead of burying it underneath dry leaves. Water the pile a little more than usual to help keep the moisture levels up. If soldier fly larvae seem to be taking over and crowding out the regular earthworms in your compost, bury kitchen waste under at least 4 inches of leaves, paper and other brown materials, and cut back on the moisture available to the pile.
How do you get your Soldier Flies? Australian Gavin Smith encourages using a purpose-built black soldier fly farm with images, instructions and explanations! This special home attracts them naturally. Or you can order them online! Or like Alison, throw some rotting apples where you want them and they will come, LOL! Sally G. Miller at Dave’s Garden says ‘BSF love coffee grounds. Collect a gallon or two of used coffee grounds and put them on the compost. Make sure the grounds stay moist. Dig into the grounds after a week and check for small tan wriggly “worms.” ‘
The Seasons: In the Pacific Northwest, it is recommended to ‘continue fueling the composting process for about nine months out of the year! Farmer Scott Olsen says ‘It will be warm and humid in there [the building] with lots of light because that’s what they like. … We’ll have to figure out how much energy we have to add to keep it going during the wintertime. We might be able to do that with solar or compost heat.” ‘ In our home gardens, adult soldier flies become inactive during cold months. Pupae can overwinter.
You chicken owners can be happy to know there are special growing chambers for BSFL [larvae]. When the larvae are mature, they crawl out of the food source, are channeled into a collection bucket right in the hungry chickens’ foraging area!
After eating their fill at your compost pile, soldier fly larvae crawl away to virtually disappear. The cycle continues. Along the way they become a food for birds and small creatures.
As a veggie gardener you can be glad they do not carry pathogens from manure to food items because they make great compost posthaste!
The physical reality dilemmas! A thread writer posed this comparison. ‘Most journals I’ve read say bsfl leave behind around 5% solid material, of course it depends on the food source. This seems to be pretty accurate. You can put literally hundreds of pounds of waste in a bin and have a few inches of substrate. It’s like I tell the people I teach this stuff to, if you want fertilizer and waste disposal, go with red wiggler worms, and if you want waste disposal and animal feed, go with BSFL.
The questioner replied that she also didn’t get enough grubs to feed her chickens. She said bsfl are super at waste disposal! ‘I wouldn’t be able to compost everything from a restaurant with worms because of space considerations or because worms can’t be fed all that fat, meat and dairy that a restaurant will naturally produce.’ Bsfl have no problem. She’s considering keeping worms in a greenhouse over winter because she wants soil… Maybe she could do both?
Finished bsfl compost looks the same as other finished compost but it has one important difference! Devin Gustus at DenGarden says black soldier fly larvae compost can stunt plant growth if applied before further composting, to consider that frass “half-composted” material. Worms can easily digest the frass further, creating high quality vermicasts. Depending on who you talk with, there is a bit more to the process than what is thought at first. If you are purchasing bsfl compost, ask how it has been processed.
So here are some pros/cons. If you go with bsfl, be ready for a fast game!
The Green Bean Connection newsletter started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA, Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. All three of Santa Barbara city community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are in a fog belt/marine layer area most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is.
Love your Mother! Plant bird & pollinator food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
I just found black soldier fly maggots in my compost bin. Yuck! But after reading several articles about them I am not quite so grossed out. So, do I understand correctly that if I want the BSF maggots to help break down my compost I should keep my bin “too wet?”
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Good for you, Courageous Soul, Ms Marigold! LOL! Even to read about it is something. Yep, keep it a little wet and get faster compost. After I learned about them I kept hoping to find some. I had seen the little flies, very neat, and figured they had to be about somewhere. I found them and now treasure their little casings, protect them, and hope they make it. My compost remains a little dry for them, but I’m in a community garden and things can’t get stinky. Happy Summer gardening and good luck with your Soldier Flies! They are great little pollinators.
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I have never seen BSF maggots in Alberta where I live. I have a buried compost digester. It is a 60 gallon barrel with holes drilled in the bottom and sides. I buried it so about 10″ are sticking out of the ground. The top is surrounded by a cement ring and firepit bricks. I have an old steel disc blade for a lid so 4 legged posts are not a problem. Right now it is frozen solid but I add all kitchen waste to it year round. Last summer it was full of maggots. I’m hoping that with the disc blade they will come sooner and start reducing the waste sooner in the summer. It was gross but they seemed to keep the stink down and helped reduce the waste. I shovelled the bin out in the fall before I tilled the garden and started over in the fall. My goal would be to add a years worth of kitchen waste and only have to shovel it out once per year.
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Outstanding, Ian! You have put in a lot of work that is paying off. Thanks for telling us all about it in detail. That really helps people see how amazing the little guys are and that we can all do this. I am now very careful when I find their casings, and I greet and welcome them to the garden when I see them hovering. In summer I let a couple of my carrots and celeries go to flower for them. Hugs from the Southland!
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Last year was the first year that I had it for a full summer. And I got the disc blade late in the year. The holes in the disc blade allow more flies in which in turn produce maggots. I am hoping that happens sooner and at a greater rate than it did last year. Is that a reasonable hope? I am hoping also that the maggots drop the level enough that I will only have to shovel it out once in the fall. It is still in the experimental phase.
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I’m no expert at your level, but it all sounds right, depending on weather, etc. I would love it if you would let us know how it all turns out in the fall. I know that may be asking a lot, but it would help us. Blessings and keep up the good work ~
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I’m not sure how fast a digester usually works on it’s own without the maggot assistance. Hopefully with both at work I will accomplish my goal of only emptying the barrel once a year.
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There’s gotta be a few permaculture farmers out there that can give you real information from experience. Maybe query GardenWeb. There are some terrific people involved with that site. They are quite knowledgeable and active! There could even be some old threads on the topic. Good luck, mate!
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With having a full summer and a lid with holes in it the whole time, do you think that maggots will get in fast enough and at a high enough rate that the volume will be reduced enough that I will not have to empty it till fall?
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I hope so, Ian. Might take a little experimentation, maybe make two and try different #s of holes?
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I won’t be putting in another one as it is a lot of work and I don’t have another place in the yard I’d want to put one. I will just have to see how the one works and hope for the best.
I’ve heard that worms can eat their body weight each day. How much will a maggot eat and as far as casing how much will be left over?
I am not doing this project for compost production. It is for waste reduction.
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I hear you, Ian, no room, no time, just want it gone! Here’s the first site I came across about how much they eat: BSF’s in their pre-pupae larval stage are super efficient in converting waste to nutrients. As mentioned earlier, one square meter of BSFL will eat 15 kg daily and convert this waste to nutrients (they are 45% protein) which can feed poultry, reptiles, swine, fish, etc. http://www.blacksoldierflyfarming.com/home/faq#Sowhatssogoodaboutthem Check about online, you may find more!
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I had a full keg of stale beer that I emptied into the compost pit hoping that in the summer it will help attract more maggots to help with the break down of the contents of the barrel. At this rate I am guessing that the 60 gallon barrel will be full by the time it starts to melt. Most of the barrels contents went in as frozen chunks so the level should drop a little bit just by thawing. With the disc blade I am now using for a lid it has a few holes and it is also knotched so flies can easily get in and with that will come maggots. I am just hoping that it will drop enough in the spring time and with all factors combined it will allow enough room to add kitchen waste to all summer at which point I will shovel it out into the garden and start over.
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Oh, boy, Ian, you are totally going for it! I think you could take a few images in progress and do an article on your adventure, what worked, what didn’t! Yay maggots! LOL
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Weather here has been warm for quite a while now. I haven’t seen any maggots in the bin yet but am also not really expecting to until may/June.
I will be getting a second bin that will be strictly for lawn clippings and garden waste. The one I have now is for kitchen waste. I want to keep them separate so we don’t get mice.
Will lawn clippings reduce in volume fairly fast. I want to get an earth machine composter and will be adding approx 3 bags of clippings every second cutting. I’m hoping that with the heat in the bin the water is expelled and the clippings reduce fast enough that I can add a full summers worth of clippings
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Thanks for the update, Ian, hope you had a great Earth Day! So glad you are continuing and progressing. I don’t know about the clippings. I’ve never had access to them. Everyone around here has those mowers that return the small bits to your lawn, and in this drought area most lawns, if there is one, are small. Post your question on davesgarden.com/ and try http://forums.gardenweb.com/ ! Both of them have great threads! But most of all, try a small test batch for yourself! I know it makes water impermeable mats if you layer it too thickly. Makes me think it should be stirred up, mixed with other materials. Oh, and I would try a couple of the big permaculture sites, especially the ones in Australia, where today’s permaculture principles were revitalized. If you have time, let us know some of what you find out. Others reading this post would be so glad to find out too!
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Weather has been great for the last couple weeks. I noticed lots of maggots in the bin today and overnight there has actually been a noticeable reduction in the watermelon peals. I’m hoping that they increase greatly and drop the level of the bin enough that I will have enough room to add to the bin until autumn.
The other thing I noticed is that before the maggots came in it smelled a lot worse. Looks like the maggots are eating the rotting material which is where the stink comes from.
When you open the lid it looks gross but it’s fine when it’s closed so it’s all good!
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Ian, good to hear you and thanks for the update! I’m so happy to hear things are going well. I don’t have enough compost or a big enough garden to warrant using the maggots, but believe me, I sure would if I did! If you feel inclined, send us a picture of your garden!
Hugs!
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Ian, hope you and your maggots, LOL, are doing well! I’ve just done a serious update, so wanted to let you know. You may already know all this by now. If you do, sending a hug and wishing you Happy Spring Gardening!
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Very interesting read. I came upon this website to see how to get rid of the maggots! I have had my compost bin for 15 plus years and have never noticed maggots before. This year a huge what I initially thought was a zucchini vine grew out of it. It obviously has abundant nitrogen as I had more leaves than anything. There were the odd flowers which I assume attracted the flies. I shall gladly leave the maggots in place and just keep them out of site with the lid on 🙂 I hope they have not harmed my earthworms. It was like a worm farm in there earlier in the season. I too just mainly use it for kitchen vegetable waste. We mulch our lawn but I do add some chopped dry tree leaves in the Fall.
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Thanks, Heather! Lucky you, you have maggots! Earthworms usually can go deep and their food is in the ground. Red Wigglers, the surface feeding compost worm is another story. Oregon State Extension says: They [bsf grubs] often thrive in worm bins, as well as compost bins, where they may out-compete the worms for food. “In a worm bin, bury food scraps down at least six inches for the worms and let the flies eat what is on the surface,” said Wise. “The flies don’t eat the worms or their eggs so they aren’t predators of the worms.”
I keep my worm farm separate and protected. I grow them strictly for their castings. The ‘farm’ is in a large 2’x4′ low covered 54 gal opaque storage container. These type worms need more horizontal than vertical space. In addition I cover them inside the container with a heavy gauge black trash bag. Light comes in the air holes that I made, so the cover keeps it dark so the worms come to the surface to feed and everything is eaten.
You sound like a good garden steward, Heather! Keep up the good work!
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I’ve just done my first trial run with waste composting. A very small quantity of vegetable waste, mixed with mud from my flowerpots. It’s a week and there are tiny whitish maggots, no smell at all & my bin is completely covered. I read that this is good. I’m just worried that they’ll turn into flies & be around the house. We live in a flat & the bin is in my balcony. Am thinking I should add some cocopeat or dry soil to it. Will the maggots finally die, or will they keep continuing to multiply? Should I be concerned about a fly problem? Help!!
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Eliza, you fine brave Soul! LOL! Good on you. That is terrific. I think those little Soldier Flies won’t bother your home. They will be hungry and looking for flowers, lots of flowers outside! The maggots will continue as long as their conditions are good, not too hot/cold, wet/dry, have food. You will be needing your neighbors to contribute food scraps, and you can start selling finished compost soon! Maybe to those neighbors! Nothing like pure unadulterated compost! Best of luck to you and Happy New Moon tonight!
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My compost is full of these black soldier larvae and the smell is awful. Does it mean that my compost is too wet and that I should add my dry ingredients?
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Jennifer, please forgive my late reply. I hope things have worked themselves out by now. I suspect you are on the right trail. Have you added some dry ingredients and did it work? We had a rainy winter where I live last year and my worms almost died from too much moisture. I actually shoveled some of the material out, just put it right in the ground. Once I had reduced the amount of the clew I started adding dry materials gradually until the balance was back to normal. Shredded paper/newspaper (soy ink) is very absorbent, worked quickly. I also put in a tad of straw. I generally avoid straw because it takes so long to decompose. Now the worms are bigger and the healthiest they have ever been! Good luck with your compost!
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OMG! Spot on. So glad I found this post. Beginner on the block. Wow do I have a lot to learn. I was so embarrassed to ‘ask’ Google about these maggots that it took me two months to research it. I’m glad I’m not a total failure LOL…Thank you so much for all of the information. I’m so green..I mean brown at this gardening thing I was ready to give up. I think I went too gung ho for a newbie, i.e.planting late, composting, trying herbs, produce, plants and flowers all at once was a bit much for having very little gardening knowledge. I will be looking for your archives and updates. Thanks again. Many blessings to you for educating us.
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Lady GiGi! Thank you, Dear Heart! Nothing like a zesty beginner and I’m so proud of you for going for it! I have had the advantage of gardening at a community garden and was guided by the best, elders with lifelong experience! Still learning every day. This is not an ad, but a wish. I don’t sell things. Subscribe to the blog and also the monthly newsletter! It gives you quite a perspective. You don’t have to read it all, but just the parts that call to you at that time. A lot of gardeners archive the newsletters for later reference. You may need to adjust a few things per your microclimate. Experience will help. You are blessed you are new and won’t fall prey to old ways of gardening. We are now in a time that sustainability is vital. Keep up with your research; permaculture is an admirable choice. May your garden be beautiful, luscious and super nutritious! Hugs!
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This is the first year I’ve had bsfl in my compost bin. Saw at the bottom of the article that the compost they produce is only “half broken down”. Without worms, how should I go about breaking it down further? If I spread it out on my lawn this month, will being exposed to the elements be enough to break it down to a usable level for plant life/growth? Thanks!
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Dear OG, OMG! It has been a long time since you sent your questions. Mea culpa! Undoubtedly you have gotten answers, but if not…your questions are worthy and others may need an answer! I think the most efficient method would be to get some worms. If you don’t want worms, put them and the bsfl material in a separate container, leaving you the option to have a new compost without the bsfl as you used to have. After the worms do their job, you can give the worms away, eliminate that container.
I doubt the elements would do a job that would do much for your lawn. The bsfl material would simply dry out = dead. If you opt not to use worms, I think, mark out an area, spread it out and turn it under, in the top 6″ of soil, where the soil organisms are plentiful, and let them do what they do! Usually the soil critters make short work of their projects ~ probably take no more than 2 weeks to a month? Then you can put that enriched soil wherever you want it.
If you found resolutions others could use, please post them here for us! Wishing you and yours blessed holidays!
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You called the flies ‘ polite’! I laughed out loud!
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Girl, I laughed out loud when I read your comment!!!
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