Share The Seeds
Gardening Area => The Eco-Garden => Topic started by: Radium on August 28, 2015, 10:42:48 PM
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Yay, I just got another idea for composting better and faster.
I haven't build it yet because of lack of time, but I seriously consider building it this year.
Description:
Get a big 20 liters (or moaar) PET bottle preferably with a narrow neck (optional).
Fill it with food scraps, mostly greens; it's best to add paper as the "brown stuff", since wood chips might have chemicals that irritate maggots.
Leave the lid open for flies to enter it and lay eggs.
Once the maggots appear, seal the lid by a mesh cloth (or anything else which lets ventilation to occur without letting flies to enter/exit)
Therefore the PET bottle will become a maggot prison, they will grow and mature into flies, and again lay their eggs at their own birthplace.
Then due to overcrowding, the excess flies will die and fall into the scraps and become dinner for other maggots.
The process repeats for some generations until no more maggot-usable nutrients are inside the prison.
If given a shady warm and moist place (but not wet), maggots become blitzkrieg composters.
The problem is that they will eat your scraps, and only give back a tiny fraction as compost, and store the rest of nutrients in their bodies and fly away.
But using this idea, no solid nutrient is going anywhere.
All of it will become compost, much much faster than conventional composting.
I'm gonna post pics and videos of it once I build one.
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I have a hard time believing green stuff will get a fly to lay eggs in it.
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I don't know what exactly counts as "green" scrap.
But I mostly use fruit peels and over-ripe ones, plus powdered toooo old beans, peas, mungs, etc.
The maggots just LOVE it.
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If you want flies to appear or collect you need fungus. It's what they crave, and provides an ideal environment and find source for larva.
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Fungus is everywhere
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Oh I thought ypu mean grass chippings fresh branches and all :)
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I can't wait until I build one!
Wow, just imagine the empty space at the top filled with countless buzzing flies, while maggots chomp the ones who die and fall due to overcrowding, spectacular!!
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It will work!
I've made a similar one last year as a compost experiment, only with fruits scraps and water and the result was a very nutritious liquid to my garden and a good meal to my chickens!
Visually it looks nasty, with millions of maggots moving on the surface but the smell was not that bad.
Good luck!
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How long it took for them to finish the scraps?
They did eat decomposing dead flies too??
BTW, there's a maggot crawling on the neck of the maggot in first picture :D
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Hi all,
I know this is a very old thread but wanted to ask if Black Soldier Fly larvae would be the ideal species for this kind of project? Or would the common house fly be better? Your thoughts on which and why would really help.
Thanks.
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Please come back, Radium. Unit 8200 misses you.