Not Your Typical Soldier Fly Question

[theinfamousj]

My bin has a soldier fly "infestation". It is an outdoor bin right now. It will be coming in around when the almanac says that first frost will hit (though given the current weather, there will be no frost on that date).

I've had the infestation since I started the bin, since I got worms with some of their old compost from a previous bin that had soldier flies. I'd read up and it was said that he larvae are good composters and ... well, I won't bore you with what you already know ... but in the end it led me to believe that given the moisture requirements of a worm bin that none of the larvae would become flies.

Um ... that didn't happen. So I've tried to be vigilant and remove all adult flies from the bin (so they won't lay more eggs) as I see them appear but that hasn't stopped successive generations of larvae.

The question in all of this is what to do when it comes time for the bin to come inside. Given the smallness of my apartment, it has to sit in my living room (or my bathtub when I am not bathing ... I haven't decided). Any tips on managing this fly infestation if it is going to continue or a less-than-a-month-to-work solution for ending it?

[Jay Blair]

If you can live with the soldier flies, they are great. I actually prefer a small infestation in the worm room / greenhouse attached to my home as they help pollinate my winter hothouse veggies when they mature.

Check back in a day or two and I will find good references to soldier flies.

BTW din't freak out , I once suggested that I wondered if a "compostorium" to dispose of human corpses could be legal disposal of bodies over on the old WD forum.

I thought "compost aunt mabelel and pack her in the rootball of a tree to be planted at home. After all Bates casket company plants a tree in the name of the occupant of each of their caskets sold.

Plus the University of Tennessee Fprensics / CSI body farm does soldier fly decomp studies too.

[Jay Blair]

Try this. stick flypaper or fly strips to the inside of the lid of your worm bin to catch the flies as they attempt to escape the bin. Periodically replace the fly strips. Benefit of the larvae and control of the flies .

Also a small UV bug zapper hung in the area of the bin will zap any escapees. I have a small zapper thats about 6 inches square that cost only $10 at wal mart.

Hung over a lidless bins it kept the worms subterranean due to the grow light spectrum plus the dead bugs fell into the bin as food. This technique also helped supplement my wading pool tilapia I tried raising in 1999.

[theinfamousj not logged]

Oh, I'm not freaking out. I was hoping the problem would go away on its own, but didn't try to do anything because my bin was just getting established and darn if those larvae weren't amazingly helpful with that by controlling excess food and providing moisture to help me get the right moisture requirements met.

In fact, I very much think that all bins should come with soldier fly larvae to help make the learning curve less steep.

My roommate, however, is not as keen on them. I've tried and tried to explain that they aren't wasps but she runs and screams and yells and things. For this reason, and in order to keep my cats from further tearing up the apartment when they go bug hunting, I wanted to not have any flies inside.

I'd do the flypaper thing, except the flies are plenty content not to try and fly away.

Maybe I'll just remove anything breakable from the living room and let the cats attempt to climb the walls in their effort to be my bug zappers.

[Jay Blair]

I knew there was a reason I started out in a 3 apartment bedroom and refused to have room mates.

One bedroom was where I had my books and microscope station and the other was my work room for building and repairing PCs and server kluges in the late 80s / early 90s. My container vegetable garden was in the bay window.Thats what happens when country boy has to move to the city to work

I had friends from college begging me to let them rent one of my bedrooms and I told em all I found my books, computers and window box vegetable garden much more enjoyable.

Alter your winter feeding to strictly kitchen vegetable wastes pureed in a blender in a volume of 1/4 scraps to 3/4 water. Then pasteurize it and let it cool.

After the worm soup cools overnight, add it to the lower quarter section of the bedding.

You could also get your roommate to get a prescription of Valium on the premise " my roommates a wacky teacher with worms in the living room". Then offer to pay half of the copay costs.

How about sharing your copy of "Worms Eat My garbage" and showing how much easier weekly trash pick up is?

Two college biology students I know keep the house they rent clean and sell window box gardens to dorm residents using the proceeds from a 5 foot wide plastic truck toolbox bin in their living room.

[redhen]

One thing about these creatures is that they will pretty much disappear during colder months. Dependng on where you live, you could leave your bins outside until it was absolutely necessary to move them in..or.. Feed less so that there is not a huge amount of raw OM and the let the worms catch up. It is not difficult, also, to sift the BSF's out from the bins if they are a problem, before bringing in. (Feed them to the wild birds). There is another solution, and that is beneficial nematodes. They are cheap and will not hurt your worms. They will also take care of fruitflies.

[not signed in]

jay that link i sent you is good info on these flys

[theinfamousj]

redhen said:

There is another solution, and that is beneficial nematodes. They are cheap and will not hurt your worms. They will also take care of fruitflies.

Oh good, because I just caught my first case of fruit flies ... or possibly fungus gnats. But based on my all too extensive experience sexing drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) in college genetics lab, and that without a microscope, I'm pretty sure these flyers are drosophila.

Since you are all of thirty minutes drive from me, do you have any suggestions as to where I may aquire the nematodes? And are they harmful to cats?

Oh, and on the "you live in Raleigh, I live in Chapel Hill" note, when is a good time to bring them inside? I have it listed that first frost occurs in late October and was going to bring them in then. However, I'll trust your experience if you say to leave them out longer.

I will miss the soldier fly larvae ...

[redhen]

Type "beneficial nematodes" into a search and you will find lots of sellers. (Maybe even a garden center). I do not think your cat would be affected by nematodes. I leave my bins outside as long as no severe cold hits for days in a row. It can stay in the 60-70's through December sometimes. I have old wool blankets that I will cover them with...or I have an unheated workshop that they can reside in. Things just slow down, as far as processing. I have way too many bins to bring them all into my house..