OMG... i have been having a fit trying to get rid of them thinking i had done something wrong ... as it has heated up here on the northern nsw coast and the rain ... more of these larvae have bred and the temperature has increased but the food i put in is all vegetable and fruit and old leaves from vegetable garden used coffee grounds, tea bags paper towel egg cartons and sugar cane mulch... ... they are chomping through it at a large rate.... i have so many worms in the 4 tier worm farm that i have had for 8mths that i am having to buy another worm farm as there are so many worms that have populated.... it would have been great to hear about all these things from other home gardeners that might have come across this... thank you so much. !!
WOW im so relieved.. i found a couple of these soldier fly larvae this morning and thought they were maggots too!! incredible how they produce food for the worms.. 😃
Thank god for your information about these soldier fly larvae I found in my compost worm bin, now I feel less afraid knowing they are harmless for my worms. I avoid looking in when adding food as the sight of them send shivers through me. Very good information that I finally found, so thank you very much.
The advantage of having black soldier fly larvae is you get worm castings faster. The disadvantage is a lot of the volume of the food you put in there is lost (it's lost to heat as the black soldier fly larvae grow). So if you're trying to get the maximum quantity of worm castings it's not great having them. On the other hand if you just want to break down organic waste fast they're great.
The loss of material depends on if you have put your compost bin in a screened-in chicken coop or not you can let them in like a lobster trap and then as they go through their life cycle they feed you chickens you get fat birds lots of eggs and compost.
@@Barskor1 loss of material is inevitable with bsf, because they eat organic matter rapidly and their excrement mass is minimal. But, red wigglers love their frass. If you have loads of consistent organic matter for bsf to eat, you'd benefit utilizing them if you are in the right climate, because they can break things down faster than worms.
@@Barskor1 agreed. I was just mentioning how bsf break down organic matter faster than red wigglers. I probably wouldn't let my chickens run through my bsf compost bin, only because I want to have control over their frass and growing environment to the best of my ability. But, you can place a ramp in the bsf bin and let the bsf fall into the chicken coop, that way the chickens eat them but don't disturb the bsf compost bin.
I'm in Queensland, on the Fraser Coast. I put meat in my worm farm, I put almost anything organic in there. Never really get maggots, but when I do, I cover it over with shreaded paper and water it in. Seems to handle the maggots.
Amazing! Thank you very much for this video!!! I've got really scared my pet worms get hurt. As we are vegan and no meat or dairy are in our household I can confirm that they are the maggots from the big flies. Good to know my worms are safe and have extra treats during summer. Thank you.
New to composting and found these in my tumble composter last year and had no idea what they were at first... they increased the decomposition and gave me compost much faster. Nice to know I don't need to stress about them... trust mother nature to get jobs done.
Do you have experience with springtails? ....there are countless varieties .... I mean the small white ones, which many people even sell online. What do you think about them? I got them 2 years ago through an online purchase of compost worms ... I put the new order in my worm bin and did not see, because it was already dark, that there were also these springtails in it. The next morning I was shocked to see the change in my bin. Unfortunately, because I did not want to lose my worm humus with all my worms I kept the worms with the springtails, and unfortunately (which I regret today) spread them in my garden. With each planting I used worms with these springtails too. Many say they are not a pest and only decompose organic waste. Yes that's true, but what I don't like is that they multiply so much and become such a plague. Do you have any advice for me? Because they have already spread almost throughout my garden. This makes me really sad! Do you have any advice for me? Is there anything I can do in my situation?
In my worm bin I have been getting a lot of little fruit flys is there a control for for this? Should I worry about that? Or is that just part of the cycle of things?
I found a couple in my vermicompost, all my worms eat organic materials. Vegetables, grass, leaves, paper bags from Whole Foods, and every once in a while organic coffee grounds. I want to use the vermicompost to mix with my soils. The plan is to grow microgreens and sell them to chefs. Is this safe to do with the maggots having been in the compost or should I just scrap the compost and just use my soil?
I have a lot of beetle leave grub like things in my compost bin. They are eating my kitchen waste so fast. Their poop is like small black pellets. Can I use it in the garden. Please advise what to do
This is probaly black soldier fly larvae and their poop is eaten by your compost worms and it is good for your soil too but not quite as good as the compost worm poop (castings). They do eat faster than compost worms and do not look very appealing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetia_illucens
@@DiscoverPermaculture Sir, they are white, fat & curl. Few One inch beetles with brown cuticle flew when I opened the bin So I am pretty sure it's some grub. The waste left by these are like worm castings dark and pellets like, can i use this in the garden, or must go through a worm got before using it on my soil
At 3.47 you were holding small dark brown flat ball like material, I thought thats good enough, but you said it has go further, how do we know it's done and ready to use
Thanku. I had the same soldier maggots. I used green n brown leaves. The maggots died n don’t know how. It’s still warm weather when they died but I’m glad they died though. I was worried
My worms are running away. I found a lot of worms dry and dead on my porch. There’s a lot of white looking maggots or larvae. They have black stripes going across the sections of its body. The worms crawled up, and lifted together the lid. They were either unhappy with their living situation. Or the new roommates were not nice. I don’t know. I’m not very good at this green thumb thing.
Geoff Lawton: Discover Permaculture thank you for your advice! I appreciate it. Unfortunately I don’t have the area for manure in my worm bin. But I will have to check out my carbons. Any ideas what works best for carbon?
Geoff Lawton: Discover Permaculture cool beans! I don’t believe my grass at my condominium would be useful though. It has a lot of chemical fertilizers and weed killer. The grass is green but would it still work for my bin?
@@danielwells50 Ripped up cardboard (Amazon packaging is perfect) or newspaper, or the contents of your office shredding machine. Recycling at its finest.
HI! it was air tight for few dayz and when I learned that it should be aerated I kept it open without any lid and covered the top of the bin with a cloth. There were BSL for few dayz and ants hunting them but after few weeks surprisingly the soil became fertile and I see worms everywhere :) I should thank Geoff for his wonderful advice. The air tight do cause pathogens to grow but the worms love the bacteria so eat them and make our soil fertile.
@@bksidhu6437 from India here. So finally this means composting should be closed? Even I am facing the same problem right now. So whatever larvae I have right now how should I get rid of them? Please help. I'm confused.
Why feed to worms or larvae when food waste can be used as a feed for an animal, say a pig. This is done by salvaging it in a still fresh food waste state, fermenting it with lactic acid bacteria and using it directly to feed an animal. Then the solid waste of that animal can be fed to larvae and the waste from larvae fed to worms. This gets you, an animal fed with a probiotic diet, a bunch of larvae which can be fed to a chicken or fish, worms and vermicompost.
@@CostasHoneyBees sorry, I added a thumbs down to your post instead of replying! I was just going to add to your reply that the questioner clearly stated that they were not allowed chickens because they lived in the city
@@ricos1497 What? Why don't you just *"un-thumbs down"* (for luck of a better word) and remove the dislike at least if you are unwilling to like the *"organ donor's"* comment? SMH
@@kiswahilikitukuzwe2547 for some obscure reason I was unable to "un-thumbs" it despite trying several times, hence I replied instead. It's working now. Perhaps a phone issue. More likely user issue! Fat thumbs or something.
OMG... i have been having a fit trying to get rid of them thinking i had done something wrong ... as it has heated up here on the northern nsw coast and the rain ... more of these larvae have bred and the temperature has increased but the food i put in is all vegetable and fruit and old leaves from vegetable garden used coffee grounds, tea bags paper towel egg cartons and sugar cane mulch... ... they are chomping through it at a large rate.... i have so many worms in the 4 tier worm farm that i have had for 8mths that i am having to buy another worm farm as there are so many worms that have populated.... it would have been great to hear about all these things from other home gardeners that might have come across this... thank you so much. !!
WOW im so relieved.. i found a couple of these soldier fly larvae this morning and thought they were maggots too!! incredible how they produce food for the worms.. 😃
Thank god for your information about these soldier fly larvae I found in my compost worm bin, now I feel less afraid knowing they are harmless for my worms. I avoid looking in when adding food as the sight of them send shivers through me. Very good information that I finally found, so thank you very much.
😂😂😂😂
Don't be scared to look at your babies
Thank you Geoff,great video,I was wondering why I had all those solders fly larva in my compost,glad to know they are beneficial
The advantage of having black soldier fly larvae is you get worm castings faster. The disadvantage is a lot of the volume of the food you put in there is lost (it's lost to heat as the black soldier fly larvae grow). So if you're trying to get the maximum quantity of worm castings it's not great having them. On the other hand if you just want to break down organic waste fast they're great.
The loss of material depends on if you have put your compost bin in a screened-in chicken coop or not you can let them in like a lobster trap and then as they go through their life cycle they feed you chickens you get fat birds lots of eggs and compost.
@@Barskor1 loss of material is inevitable with bsf, because they eat organic matter rapidly and their excrement mass is minimal. But, red wigglers love their frass. If you have loads of consistent organic matter for bsf to eat, you'd benefit utilizing them if you are in the right climate, because they can break things down faster than worms.
@@1rstjames You get the mass back in chickens and eggs if you do it my way.
@@Barskor1 agreed. I was just mentioning how bsf break down organic matter faster than red wigglers. I probably wouldn't let my chickens run through my bsf compost bin, only because I want to have control over their frass and growing environment to the best of my ability. But, you can place a ramp in the bsf bin and let the bsf fall into the chicken coop, that way the chickens eat them but don't disturb the bsf compost bin.
@@1rstjames Exactly!
I'm in Queensland, on the Fraser Coast. I put meat in my worm farm, I put almost anything organic in there. Never really get maggots, but when I do, I cover it over with shreaded paper and water it in. Seems to handle the maggots.
from around the fraser coast too!
Keep a eye out. If your worms grow teeth.RUN
Amazing! Thank you very much for this video!!! I've got really scared my pet worms get hurt. As we are vegan and no meat or dairy are in our household I can confirm that they are the maggots from the big flies. Good to know my worms are safe and have extra treats during summer. Thank you.
BSL are excellent composters, plus I've never seen the common house fly thrive in compost piles with BSL.
New to composting and found these in my tumble composter last year and had no idea what they were at first... they increased the decomposition and gave me compost much faster.
Nice to know I don't need to stress about them... trust mother nature to get jobs done.
@@cathymadsen2930 They also make great feed for aquaponic systems and chickens if you get too many in your compost.
Thank you.
Do you have experience with springtails? ....there are countless varieties .... I mean the small white ones, which many people even sell online. What do you think about them? I got them 2 years ago through an online purchase of compost worms ... I put the new order in my worm bin and did not see, because it was already dark, that there were also these springtails in it. The next morning I was shocked to see the change in my bin. Unfortunately, because I did not want to lose my worm humus with all my worms I kept the worms with the springtails, and unfortunately (which I regret today) spread them in my garden. With each planting I used worms with these springtails too. Many say they are not a pest and only decompose organic waste. Yes that's true, but what I don't like is that they multiply so much and become such a plague.
Do you have any advice for me? Because they have already spread almost throughout my garden. This makes me really sad! Do you have any advice for me? Is there anything I can do in my situation?
In my worm bin I have been getting a lot of little fruit flys is there a control for for this? Should I worry about that? Or is that just part of the cycle of things?
I found a couple in my vermicompost, all my worms eat organic materials. Vegetables, grass, leaves, paper bags from Whole Foods, and every once in a while organic coffee grounds. I want to use the vermicompost to mix with my soils. The plan is to grow microgreens and sell them to chefs. Is this safe to do with the maggots having been in the compost or should I just scrap the compost and just use my soil?
Are meat maggots really that bad in your worm beds? I sorta let it do its own thing?
Geoff I went collecting old cow patties in a paddock, under some were little orange worms, and some clear ones. Are these bad? Thanks
Hi Geoff.. How do you manage with reptiles like snakes...
I have a lot of beetle leave grub like things in my compost bin. They are eating my kitchen waste so fast. Their poop is like small black pellets.
Can I use it in the garden.
Please advise what to do
Beetle larvae
This is probaly black soldier fly larvae and their poop is eaten by your compost worms and it is good for your soil too but not quite as good as the compost worm poop (castings). They do eat faster than compost worms and do not look very appealing en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetia_illucens
@@DiscoverPermaculture
Sir, they are white, fat & curl. Few One inch beetles with brown cuticle flew when I opened the bin
So I am pretty sure it's some grub.
The waste left by these are like worm castings dark and pellets like, can i use this in the garden, or must go through a worm got before using it on my soil
At 3.47 you were holding small dark brown flat ball like material, I thought thats good enough, but you said it has go further, how do we know it's done and ready to use
don't listen to this goober, put it in your garden, put any organic matter in your garden, seriously don't worry about it.
Thanku. I had the same soldier maggots. I used green n brown leaves. The maggots died n don’t know how. It’s still warm weather when they died but I’m glad they died though. I was worried
Hello,
I was wondering what would happen if you put fresh chicken, sheep or goat manure? Would the worms die?
Thank you
Watch his video on how to set up a worm farm. He spells it out but if memory serves me you should not
My worms are running away. I found a lot of worms dry and dead on my porch. There’s a lot of white looking maggots or larvae. They have black stripes going across the sections of its body. The worms crawled up, and lifted together the lid. They were either unhappy with their living situation. Or the new roommates were not nice. I don’t know. I’m not very good at this green thumb thing.
It sounds like there is too much extremely rotten fruit and not enough carbon or manure and you have a large amount of black solider fly larvae.
Geoff Lawton: Discover Permaculture thank you for your advice! I appreciate it. Unfortunately I don’t have the area for manure in my worm bin. But I will have to check out my carbons. Any ideas what works best for carbon?
@@danielwells50 you could use dry leaves, dry grass or straw.
Geoff Lawton: Discover Permaculture cool beans! I don’t believe my grass at my condominium would be useful though. It has a lot of chemical fertilizers and weed killer. The grass is green but would it still work for my bin?
@@danielwells50 Ripped up cardboard (Amazon packaging is perfect) or newspaper, or the contents of your office shredding machine. Recycling at its finest.
Ok how do you compost meat products?
bokashi method is the solution
Great info. Soldier fly waste is eaten by earthworms. Wow
Hey.. is root maggots are good for compost.. ?
Yes fine
@@DiscoverPermaculture thanks
the questioner said his compost bin was 'air tight' isn't that going to cause anaerobic pathogens?
HI! it was air tight for few dayz and when I learned that it should be aerated I kept it open without any lid and covered the top of the bin with a cloth. There were BSL for few dayz and ants hunting them but after few weeks surprisingly the soil became fertile and I see worms everywhere :) I should thank Geoff for his wonderful advice. The air tight do cause pathogens to grow but the worms love the bacteria so eat them and make our soil fertile.
@@bksidhu6437 from India here. So finally this means composting should be closed? Even I am facing the same problem right now. So whatever larvae I have right now how should I get rid of them? Please help. I'm confused.
painful to read we know
Why feed to worms or larvae when food waste can be used as a feed for an animal, say a pig. This is done by salvaging it in a still fresh food waste state, fermenting it with lactic acid bacteria and using it directly to feed an animal. Then the solid waste of that animal can be fed to larvae and the waste from larvae fed to worms. This gets you, an animal fed with a probiotic diet, a bunch of larvae which can be fed to a chicken or fish, worms and vermicompost.
not everyone that gardens has space for pigs or chickens. Some have just a balcony or a small yard.
@@CostasHoneyBees sorry, I added a thumbs down to your post instead of replying! I was just going to add to your reply that the questioner clearly stated that they were not allowed chickens because they lived in the city
Will having solider fly larvae in a raised bed do anything to your vegetables?
@@ricos1497 What? Why don't you just *"un-thumbs down"* (for luck of a better word) and remove the dislike at least if you are unwilling to like the *"organ donor's"* comment? SMH
@@kiswahilikitukuzwe2547 for some obscure reason I was unable to "un-thumbs" it despite trying several times, hence I replied instead. It's working now. Perhaps a phone issue. More likely user issue! Fat thumbs or something.