Is my compost ok to use for my plant?

BlueRidgeGrower

Well-Known Member
I live in the mountains and am pretty secluded. So naturally I burn my burnables and compost all excess food. I have a compost barrel I throw all my food in there. I have an active population of black soldier fly larvae in the barrel that breaks down and processes all the compost. I feed the black soldier flys to my Bearded Dragon. But they only seem to stay at the top so would the soil below the layer of worms be a good choice for my plant.
 

backtracker

Well-Known Member
I live in the mountains and am pretty secluded. So naturally I burn my burnables and compost all excess food. I have a compost barrel I throw all my food in there. I have an active population of black soldier fly larvae in the barrel that breaks down and processes all the compost. I feed the black soldier flys to my Bearded Dragon. But they only seem to stay at the top so would the soil below the layer of worms be a good choice for my plant.
Get predatory nematodes to make sure no bad bugs are in it and sift it through a 1/4 in. screen then it should be mostly worm castings.
 

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Will I have an issue with the nematodes killing off my Black Soldier Fly Larvae?
i wouldn't bother with nematodes, the compost procedure is gonna be fine
I've never gotten "bad" bugs from a compost, and if there was, nematodes isn't going to eradicate all of them anyways, the composting mites do a damn good job of eating most everything anyways
BSF compost is some good stuff, those guys can do amazing things, not to mention if your compost has dead BSFs in there those are good for chitin and a moderate amount of calcium and phosphorus.
granted in super small amounts it'll be negligible, but that's how organics works, you get super small amounts of most everything in slow release forms, and you never run into any defs that way.
 

hillbill

Well-Known Member
When the BSF really get going and the browns are at least close to greens, there are pounds of larvae in the core of the barrel and it never gets much fuller in hot weather. They eat everything. Final compost must have a lot of composted larvae and flies and frass.
 

BlueRidgeGrower

Well-Known Member
They end up making everything into a semiliquid funk. My neighbor who I got my culture from says it's great for plants.
 

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
When the BSF really get going and the browns are at least close to greens, there are pounds of larvae in the core of the barrel and it never gets much fuller in hot weather. They eat everything. Final compost must have a lot of composted larvae and flies and frass.
EXACTLY!
and that shit is LOADED with nutrients, and like i said, in the perfect slow release kinda way too.
I've seen setups where it's nearly closed loops, aquaponics, bsf composting, and cannabis growing
the tilapia eat the BSF grubs from the compost, the tilapia shit in the water feeding the leafy vegetables, the water from the aquaponics feed the cannabis, the compost feeds the soil for the cannabis.
you eat the tilapia feed the BSFs the fish carcass, so on, and so forth.
man i wish i had a half million dollars to buy property around here...

Can't argue with that, "free" fish food, free fish, cannabis, leafy greens, and compost?
sign me the-fuck-up!
 

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
You mean browns and greens as in larvae or what I'm putting in there? And would it be better if I just planted in a half and half mixture of my compost and local dirt?
hard to say without looking at your local dirt
but i'd be confident in guessing that say even poor dirt mixed halfway with fresh compost would probably grow just fine
he meant browns and greens meaning carbons to nitrogen inputs for the compost
browns being carbon
greens being nitrogen
 

hillbill

Well-Known Member
Google composting browns and green or YouTube. Most good gardening sites have a plethora of info. composting is interesting and rewarding. Browns are often things that were greens like tree leaves.

The nitrogen in the green portions needs a balance in high carbon or it will sour.
 
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