For those who are curious, I thought it would be nice to ask Larry J. Shier some quick questions about what he thinks about these little critters and what led him to write his new book about them.
Hi Larry. We all know you as a highly knowledgable admin in the main worm farming groups. What has lead you to study the Black Soldier Flies and their larva?
Hi Huy. Repeatedly people post pictures of BSFL in their Worm bins, concerned about having " maggots." These particular maggots are a beneficial part of the food chain and are excellent composters in their own right. I wrote hoping to encourage people to use BSFL instead of trying to eradicate them.
You ended up writing an eBook about these creatures, I suppose what you learn about them was fascinating enough. Could you tell us what triggered the need to publish " Black Soldier Fly Eco- Technology For a Sustainable Future "?
I decided to write Black Soldier Fly- Eco-technology for a Sustainable Future because I truly believe these little flies have a role in keeping large streams of waste from landfills and returning nutrients to our soils. An entrepreneur could create a profitable business in one or more of several uses for the larvae, the compost or in waste reduction.
Without disclosing too much about it, can you tell us what the readers will find in the eBook?
The first thing I need to say is that this is NOT a how to book. You won ' t find ways to build a bin or setup egg traps. What I ' ve done is search through dozens of scientific research papers to discover uses for larvae. Ways the larvae can be used to help us be better stewards of our planet, but also ways that could prove profitable. Without a possibility of profit there ' s no motivation to begin.
Compared to worm farming, how easy is it to do BSFL farming / composting?
Both worm farming and larvae farming are a lot of hard work. Both require a large food supply on a consistent basis. BSFL eat far more based on weight than worms do so the amount of food needed to do it on a large scale is immense. I see this being done close to other industries that produce a lot of waste, like large scale juice manufacturers, breweries etc. I would say both present their own challenges.
Do you think BSFL farming will one day see the same success as worm farming did?
I expect that the growing and implementation of BSFL farming will appear much different than worn farming. You can keep worms in a bucket under your kitchen sink and drop in your household scraps. Most people don ' t want a bucket of maggots nor flies inside the house. I expect BSFL to be grown on a much larger scale in general, to compost all waste from a farm or a factory for example. For most households Soldier flies will be a seasonal endeavour, it ' ll take a profitable business model and some startup capital to build large indoor facilities in most cases.
Thank you Larry for this quick interview and for the new eBook.
I have started a small colony of BSFL thanks to Gargantua, my CFT, which has attracted some female BSF. I found some large clusters of eggs which allowed me to start in a temporary bin from a collection tray of a worm farm. You can follow my journey on my blog: The Little Worm Farm 12