How to make a black soldier fly farm

Costa meets Gavin Smith, gardener and insect enthusiast, who farms black soldier flies and their larvae in a purpose-built compost bin. Black soldier fly larvae are great composters of food scraps and the protein packed larvae can be harvested to feed to chooks and used for bait in fishing.

Black soldier flies are Hermetia illucens. They are black and 15mm long. They look like a small black wasp. They are an introduced species in Australia but now occur worldwide.

Gardeners can mistake black soldier fly larvae in their compost for the maggots of blowflies, but unlike maggots, black soldier fly larvae eat vegetable food scraps. They are eating machines, turning scraps into compost much more rapidly than worms. They are good to have in your compost and can process (eat!) large amounts of scraps very quickly.

You can build a purpose-built black soldier fly farm to encourage the fly to lay eggs into your food scrap container or compost. The flies and larvae are more likely to occur in the warmer weather.


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