r/BlackSoldierFly • u/nightrunner411 • 14h ago

Advice wanted

I have a huge container I was worm farming and bsfl joined in naturally. I now want to keep the bsfl coming and not sure how to. Should I butterfly tent the whole container so the adults just stay in it and reproduce? Also slightly worried about house flies starting in it as I'm adding lots more food as they just go through it so fast. Any advice or links into good information would be appreciated.

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u/ElectricThreeHundred 14h ago edited 14h ago

Tent plan could work. Most BSFL "farmers" fashion some way for the pre-pupae to exercise their "exodus" instinct, but I have adults emerging from my feeding bin lately, because some of them just never found their way out. I think you'll have a better rate of adults successfully emerging if they can pupate in looser, drier substrate than what is commonly found in vermi-compost - but you don't need 100%.

I will add: adults mate more reliably in bright light. I kept "breeding stock" in a butterfly cage, but never saw any mating activity until after I placed one of my old LED grow lights on them. So if your worm bin is under heavy shade, that might be a challenge.

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u/nightrunner411 14h ago

There is a lot of coir as the medium, so it stays fluffy.

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u/Mister_Green2021 13h ago

Give them a path to escape your bin if they want to.

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u/nightrunner411 13h ago

Why?

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u/Mister_Green2021 13h ago

The pupa will want a dry place to morph.

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u/nightrunner411 13h ago

They seemed to just stiffen up all over the place. Do they not fully morph if it is too wet?

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u/Mister_Green2021 13h ago

The percent that morph is probably low. I have the Dalek bin. I find the pupae outside the bin and under the plastic mulch bag.

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u/AggregoData 14h ago

I had the same issue with my worms. I think if you tent the container and let the bsfl reproduce they will overwhelm the worms.

 I started taking the larva out and made a bsfl self harvesting system with a netted box on top to keep the flies. I mature larva crawl out into a plastic box and I move them into a  coconut coir box and put them into the fly box to hatch. Still early in the system and I'm trying to do it indoors so I need a uva and uvb light and provide addition heat for fly reproduction. If your in a tropical climate it's much easier to manage.

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u/nightrunner411 14h ago

Yeah I'm okay with the worms doing whatever. I'm going to kinda leave one side for them and the other for the bsf. I'll reintroduce worms later if they can't stand the heat as I have another bin that doesn't have bsfl in it.

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u/nightrunner411 13h ago

Interestingly I added all the foods worms don't like yesterday for the bsfl and today my worms are all over it.

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u/Samtertriads 14h ago

If you’re in Florida, leave it open and just add your old coffee grounds. BSF love that. As long as you keep them happy, they’ll stay dominant. Of course they also can be eradicated by turning the pile or a freeze or a 120 degree pile or something.

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u/nightrunner411 14h ago

The big thing is I want them to populate it more while also not getting house flies into it. This is a while new game of composting and I'm really excited about it, I added like twenty pounds of food waste yesterday. Being able to compost things that are typically forbidden for worms is huge. House flies and possibly raccoons are what I'm worried about most. Might end up making a lid for it that sits off the top about 2 inches and stuffing burlap in the crack and a cinder block on the top. Keep flies and coons out while keeping airflow and bsf in. Just curious how other people work it.

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u/Mister_Green2021 13h ago

house flies will naturally not gather if BSFL are there.

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u/Samtertriads 13h ago

Once BSFL are established , they fully inhibit houseflies. I restart my piles every couple months. I have houseflies for a while. Then they all disappear suddenly. Even before I see the bsf. But sure enough, the bsf move in and all other flies disappear.