192.2017 ‘Symton Back Soldier Fly Blog- Symon Black Soldier Fly Intensive Black Soldier Fly Farming ‘resent 22 Comments Black soldier fly is native to most area in the United States, but the density of the population might vary across states. If you don't see them frequently in your area, it means you don't have millions of them around, and you will find it hard to attract fertilized females to lay eggs in your nursery. In this situation, a fly cage is highly recommended. Inthe picture to the right, there are two types of cages. One is made from PVC pipes (48°25°20 inch), and covered with baby insect proof net. The size of this type is imited by the size of available netting. In the middle is a Wood framed cage (48°48°48 inch), and it's covered by common screen mesh, Either one works pretty well ‘Allowing maxinium amount of direct sunight available tothe setup isthe key for the successful mating. I you are breeding indoor. make sure your colony get the window thats facing south to maximize the photoperiod. Besides, temperature should be kept above 23 degrve Celsius althe ime for successful mating, and above 13 degree CColsius to keep fos ave, Humility shouldbe around 50%, Inthe cago, all you need is to provide a clean water ‘source and a attractant for oviposition (egg laying). To make clean water avalabl to the fle, you can place @ small fountain, but make sure to avoid deep water standing, because black soldier fy are easy to drawn, For the ‘oviposition se, a plastic box wth rotting organic matter (such as bananas, corn meal, wheat bran) is necessary, For the best resut, place a couple thousand young larvae in inthe organic matter. The adult black soldier fas do not ‘ct, he food is ust for them to know where to lay eggs. Direct above the rotting material, using rubber band to hold fogathar 4-5 places of coraboard, andthe fertile females would lay eggs in the cardboarc lites. The foo should be kept moisture all the tima, otverwisa the female willay directly onthe food source, which wil cause inconvenience for management. Usually i you do net use anibists in he food for attractant, the material will mld up alter 2 or 3 day, and you have to replace the material requently to avoid stinks. One way we found to be C’flectve lo prevent molds is introducing one or two thousand smal black solder fly larvae inthe food source, because the larvae can consume the fung! that cause the mold, and they can produce chemicals that inhibits fang! ‘and bacterlas growth, In this way you can change the food source less frequent. Farmers should harvest the eggs (replace the cardboard) every day or every two days to make the empty ute space availole for the oviposition, The eggs can be rectly Introduced tothe working grub compost for hatching ‘The black soldier fy larvae wilt consume your eggs, unless the eggs are already dead and rttng. Tiss a good ting because when the larvae consume those rating eggs, otners eggs that haven't been infected wil bo fine til hatching ‘lack ale y owposton Black Siler Fy eggs ed crboad tes Patching se up Setting up a nursery can help you have a better idea of how many small larvae you are dealing with, and can hop you to detect some other problems that you might otherwise not be aware of, such as hatching flr A the right side isthe video we made to explain how we set up nursery for hp hve symtanbtcomlogirtonsve-lack solder farming a192.2017 ‘Syton Black Saléier Fly Blog- Syton Black Sod Fly black soldier fly hatching, Most importantly, this set up can allow you leave it unattended for ten days, and it can still do its work. It might not be the most effective way, but is the most effective one we found after numerous experiments Im most cases, the eggs failure fs raul of extremely low humidity plus high temperature. These envronments are often found in small reams with heater turned an In some othar casas itis due to unfertilized eggs. Alhough black oleer fly does nat lay eggs f they never mated before, femalas do have eggs developed inthe ovaries regardless of the mating. the female evar formes a pair with a male, and they got inlerrupted before they finished, which ould be 10-30 minutos, tho femata wil ay all the eggs. Inorrupions could be @ human behavior, or poor qually of the fight source. this isthe ease, a big potion ofthe eggs mass are unfrtiized and wil not hatch. To avoid this happening, by to set up a greenhouse forthe breeding cage, of place the cage besides a big window with no filers ‘on, Aso, minimizing the Interruption due to managements wit heb hereasing the egg qualty. This belg sald, do not play with the fhes and et them do their jobs by themselves. Under condition of 27-30 Celsius Degree, ater 10 days of hatching, the larvae can reach vise size and is ready to ‘compost food serap. When you introduce them tothe compost, you can have a rough count of how many larvae you {are having in your bins. ‘The larvae of black sok fy are polyphagous—they can grow from grasses Ike alfalfa, vegetable waste, animal feces, to nuit rich products Ike mast or carrions. I the larvaa wera given enough food with moisture, they wil velop trom egg to prepupae within 3 weeks on average. Ahough the black soldier ly larvae are tough growers, there are two main factors that could cause large damage to the population. The fst one Is hightemperature, and the second one is poor substrate ventiaton. Whon actwaly consuming food, the black solder fly can generate a ‘900d amount of heat A healthy colony has @ core temperature ranging ftom 32-44 Celsius Degree, with fication pending on the enviconment temperature. The larvae wil stop feeding once the temperature raise above 44 CColsius, and they will aggregate on top of the substrate to dissipate the heat, If the environment temporature Is close oF beyond 44 Celsius Degree over 4 hours, the larvae will die and will not be able to revive by placing them in a cooler room, Poor substrate ventilation is another factor that could cause large damage, and this especially a problem for the neonates. Vs are large, the wrigging movements are strong enough to create some pore space to breath in a submerge situation. Yet, the neonates are not strong enough to coat significant pore space to breath, if he feedstock particles are to0 fine ike alfalfa and corn meal, oF too sticky tke cooked sorghum. Therefore its etal add food stocks that have fow densiy but high rg, such ‘8 wheat bran, rice bran, oF wood shaving dus. ito the diet to create a loose toxturo so that the neonates can broath underneath, Larvae le due to heat of suiflocated are sot in texture. Lara dd dv to over neat Ieeally, the substrate should not be thicker than 3 inches, and this is because of two reasons, Firstly, the larvae tend to dig down with na stop, and if the substrate is thicker than 3 inches, sometimes you wil in them fll o make it back tothe surface and die due to either heat or lack af oxygen. Secondly, the frsh food you put an the surface will sink to the bottom due to the wiggling ofthe larvae, and if the substrate is too ‘avaliable forthe larvae, 2, the food wil no longer be ‘Though the black soe fis known being able to sel-harvest, most of the commercial producers inthe world does not apply this in their main producton tne. JM Gresn (China), Enterra (Canada), and Enviofght (USA) all use pan system, with cifferent size ofthe pan. hp www symtonbst.comiblogintonsive-black-salder-y-arming192.2017 ‘Symton Back Soldier Fly Blog- Symon Black Soldier Fly Enterra Feeding company produces JIM Green company produces. —_Envirofight company ‘about 15 tons black soldier fy larvae about 20 tons of black soldier ty uses large metal daily, using square pans. larvae each day in each of their welded pans for facilties, using rectangle larvae growing industrial plastic pans, ‘The advantages of the pan system are: ‘The disadvantages of the pan system are: 41, easily control unit 4. could be very expensive 2. can be standardized in commercial level 2. could be labor intensive easily 3. require higher level of understanding for 3, automated system available the black soldier fly 4, lower chance for mass population wipe 4, waste need to be shattered and out because of the separation homogenized 5, able to harvest larvae at different life 5. have to go through sifting stage 6. production capacity could be estimated based on the counts of the pan ‘ot, there is also company Ike Agriprtein (South Arica) doing soltharvesting systom. The advantages of the selt-harvesting system The disadvantages of the self-harvesting system 1, self-egulating system, minimal care 4. production capacity could not be 2, waste does not need to be shattered and projected accurately homogenized before feeding 2. Higher degree of year round climate 3, technology requirements lower control required as the prepupae only 4. cost effective to operate selharvested under certain conditions 5. managing requirement lower 3. at risk of population wipe out due to improper management 4. Most ikely only able to harvest Sth & 6th (prepupae) instar larvae Depending on the industry you are in, you might find one system is more suitable for you than the other. For ‘example, in reptile feed industy, the market are looking for larvae at diferent size, and only the pan system can provide this consistent accuracy; inthe situation you are producing larvae for your own uses and you do not care ‘about the sizes, you may want logo with the selt-harvestng system. Ifyou are new tothe black solder Nl farming technology you can Setup plot scale project for both systems. Once you had a better understanding what each of the systom can proves, you can choose the one that meats your needs, or possibly use a combination of thom oth ‘Atough the disease ofthe BSFL has boon rarly explored, there aro fow parasites wo knew thal could cause ‘damage tothe colony, and they are 1) parasitic wasps 2) phorids 8) mites 4) unpreferable fungi + Researchers in North Central Florida have found an undescribed parasitic Hymenopteran species of Trichopria ‘on BSFL (H.illucens), and in this case the host was - developed in poultry house (Mitchell et al. 1974). In our facility, we have spotted a parasitic wasp that was targeting the pupating pupae. The parasitic wasps usually ‘occur in large number, and could damage the pupate emergence rate, Common treatments include sticky traps and preventative procedures + Rather targeting the adult or larva of the BSF, phorids are interested in the foods that the BSFL are eating, Even though the phorids cannot out compete the BSFL. on food source, they can make your facilty very nasty—phorids are ‘common pest that could contaminate human resources. hp www symtonbst.comiblogintonsive-black-salder-y-arming