permaculture

[venaurafarm <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 10/23/2012 12:49 PM, georg parlow wrote:
> I came across another nice thing to combine with an aquaponic system:
> black soldier fly farming. Especially in low density systems (with
> fish way below the maximum stocking rate, mainly for safety reasons,
> or where fish is not part of the diet) it is great, I have been told.
> The 'tea' is highly nutrien rich, and can be directly added to the
> water (after it leaves the fish tank), with great results. The mature
> lavae are a high protein high calcium fish food.
>
> http://www.blacksoldierflyfarming.com/
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetia_illucens
>
> Experiences with these grubs, anyone?

My friend Mike submitted this to the discussion, crossposting for him:

"When I have a slow day I'll dig up some stuff I have on BSF larva. It's 
the best fish food there is, assaying higher than anchovies in protein, 
minerals and essential oils. And it's environmentally benign: you don't 
scarf up scarce anchovies, depriving wild fish of their food source to 
run your fish farm. Instead, you grow BSF where there were none before.

It's also about the safest fly to grow. People are naturally leery about 
encouraging flies, but this one never goes inside. It doesn't compete 
with humans for human food. It's inoffensive and carries no disease. 
Plus, it's easy to harvest.

The process I learned was to put slatted floors in the hog barns. That
way you could separate the urine, which passed through the slats, from
the solid feces.

Collect the escaping methane to run a gas dryer, and dry the feces until 
they become an odorless black crumbly solid. In the hand it feels a 
little like humus, only more grainy.

Inoculate your pile of crap with some black soldier flies. They will
love the stuff and lay eggs on it. The infants (larva) are born there
and convert the hog poop into protein and fat very efficiently. Then
they follow their instincts to climb up, looking forward to a time when
they develop wings and can fly away.

But yours don't. Instead, you set an inclined plane at the top of your
pile. They climb up it and fall over the high side, into a collecting
basin. What you end up with in your basin is virtually pure bugs. Very
tasty, if you're a salmon fry.

It's potentially a million dollar business. I have no idea why lots of
people aren't doing this. Instead they still get rid of their hog poop
by the sprayfield method. Smelly, unpleasant and unprofitable.

Feel free to add this to your list."