Closing The Loop
A worm bin is a whole ecosystem, we know the worms are not the ones breaking down the food that ' s the job of bacteria and fungi. But they are not the only organisms suited to the task, amongst other critters, there is another master composter which has started to attract a lot of attention: the Black Soldier Fly Larvae( BSFL).
This is a worm farming magazine so why talk about fly larvae? Worm farming is, for the domestic users, mainly about diverting our food waste from going to landfills and polluting the environment, however as amazing as they are, compost worms cannot compost everything. Well they can but most bins are small, enclosed systems, we need to avoid some types of food such as protein rich ones including meat and dairy products. Now the interesting bit is that( BSFL) can consume that food waste and they do it so fast the food doesn ' t have time to go bad.
Some facts about the BSF and heir larvae:
01. The adult flies and pupae don ' t sting and don ' t eat and thus are not attracted by human and their food.
02. At no stage of their life are they considered pests and are not vectors of diseases.
03. What worms eat in a week they can eat in a day or less.
04. The pupae are excellent animal feed( chicken, fish, reptiles etc...) rich in protein and calcium.
05. The presence of an established colony of BSFL will reduce the surrounding population of house flies by the secretion of a repelling pheromones and mainly by outcompeting other larvae for food.
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