I make compost in my yard with leaves, yard trimmings, weeds, brush etc. What I up with is somewhat leafy/chunky. Fine but not quite dirt like. On ther hand I also have a tumbler composter I use for kitchen scraps, some weeds and yard trimmings. The soldier fly larvae really go town on whats in the there. What I get out is fine black dirt with a bunch of crushed eggshells in it. Looks a lot like worm castings. So since the larvae have processed it, isn't pretty much the same as ewc?
From the limited research I've done. The soldier fly larvae compost would still need to be hot composted to reduce any chances of phytotoxic properties. In the European Union, insect frass has to be treated for one hour at 70°Cv before commercialization for safety reasons, whereas the same applies to animal manure in general.
Technically no i believe, earth worms r earthworms & fly larvae is fly larvae. Why bother separating your compost?
Yes, I understand the difference. I'm referring to the end result. Why separate my compost? The tumbler is convenient to the kitchen. The chef refuses to walk out to a compost heap. And I like to eat.
I'm the chef AND composter, what I do is keep an old pot with a good lid in the kitchen & limp it out to the compost pile once a week for the 2 of us. Those kitchen scraps R great but need the yard waste to make a "complete" product???
For your consideration... https://www.researchgate.net/public...Capsicum_annum_Early_Jalapeno_Seedling_Growth
Just to make sure I follow this right. The soldier flies are just “wild” and come process the contents of the tumbler? As far as dealing with not quite done compost goes, a worm bin works excellent for final processing that stuff. Especially if a little more time isnt a big deal. I actually like running not quite done compost through worm bins. It doesnt require as much bulking up, or additional feeding. If your area is fairly natural, even a pile of what you have now should attract compost worms to further work it. Cheers Os
It's pretty natural here. I'm afraid if I put this out on the ground for the worms it would just disappear into the ground! It has a really nice earthy smell to it.
You could lay down some landscape fabric and put your compost on top. You could even cover it with the fabric as well. Might be interesting to even try a small amount. Cheers Os
After some reading it seems what I am getting from the tumbler composter and soldier fly larvae is called insect frass. They say it is very similar to worm castings.
