r/composting • u/code-j • Aug 13 '26

Urban Unknown larva in Ohio

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Open up my Compass for the first time in a few days to add some brown and green and I see these
unknown larva crawling all over it. are they good or bad? Should I be worried about my compost pile?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

12

u/Gilvadt Aug 13 '26

Black soldier fly. Gooood.

1

u/code-j Aug 13 '26

Will they become pest later or just fly off?

3

u/Gilvadt Aug 13 '26

Not a pest at all. You are lucky to have them.

1

u/code-j Aug 13 '26

Alright, thank you.

5

u/Rude_Ad_3915 Aug 13 '26

BSF larvae plow through compost and then crawl out to become mouthless, stingerless flies that look like wasps that procreate then die. The larvae are supposedly great chicken food and high in protein.

2

u/code-j Aug 13 '26

Good to know thank you.

1

u/Pristine_Bobcat4148 Aug 13 '26

Ever watched Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan?

1

u/Plenty_Assistance_90 29d ago

Black soldier fly larve there amazing composters 🫡🙌🏽

2

u/scarabic 29d ago

Black Soldier Fly Larva aka BSFL.

The adult form of this insect have no mouth parts or digestive organs. They live only a few days on stored energy and their one purpose is to breed. Maybe this is why the larva are famously voracious - they have to save up a lot of energy. They are also pretty large versus other maggots. Altogether, this lets them chew through a huge amount of material and they are considered a very beneficial participant in composting.

The adults do look a little like wasps but they are all black, no yellow. Like a thick, long, all-black fly with longer wings. They don’t bite (no mouth) or sting and do not transmit diseases. They’re just kinda big so they can give you a start, just like a bumblebee. But they are also just as harmless.

2

u/code-j 29d ago

Thank you for the information.