Soldier Flies

My composting pipeline is looking good. I live in So Cal so the weather permits faster composting. I've built a 3 stage composting setup, basically just 3 bins to work out of. Fill the first bin then turn it over into the 2nd, when the 1st is filled again then turn the 2nd into the 3rd and the 1st into the 2nd, then fill the 1st again. The cost of building my bins was about 25bucks and they are 3x3x4 using some 1.5x3's for framing and cedar fence pickets for the sides. I know most of the composting action happens at a bacterial level. Its always nice and warm at night time. My friend told me that all the worms I'm getting are soldier fly larvae and they look like meal worms you'd feed your reptiles. There's a lizard living in my compost and its getting fat. Do those worm count as worm casings? The compost is made up of lawn trimmings, tree droppings, and vegetable scraps (I get lots of those from juicing). The first batch of compost looks great, has a nice earthy smell and airy like dried grass yet a nice blackness to it and some parts look like ash. I'm planning on just using it to amend the existing soil. Do you think I really need to do much more than that?

soldier flies are good for your compost. i found this the other day when I ran info these black wasplike flies. wanted to know what was in my garden."First off, manure management reduces environmental damage that can result from large accumulations of manure. Black soldier fly larvae are scavengers and thrive on many kinds of decomposing organic matter, including algae, carrion, compost heaps, manure, mold, plant refuse, and the waste products of beehives.
They have large and powerful chewing mouthparts allowing them to shred and devour waste. These gluttonous little creatures are able to digest organic compound before the compounds have time to decompose, thereby immediately eliminating odor. The black soldier fly larva's digestive system leaves behind a fraction of the original weight and volume of waste.
Statistically, food waste in the United States, could be significantly reduced and waste reduction of farm animals (chickens and pigs) might even reach 75%. Simply put, manure is rapidly decomposed by the black soldier fly larvae, greatly reducing the amount and odor, along with any potential disease problems.
Secondly, this non-pest larvae converts the manure's nutrients into 42% protein and 35% fat feedstuff. This conversion of waste into feedstuff is called bioconversion and, consequently, the larvae can be fed right back to the animals or birds that generated the waste or used as feed for fish or livestock. It can be ground up and fed to earthworms or red worms for a second round or just used as compost. The larva is dry, friable, and odorless.
In addition, many experts believe that the high calcium content of the larvae (also called "phoenix worms") may halt or reverse the effects of metabolic bone disease. This biomass, of larvae harvested nutrients, is worth about the same as meat and bone or fishmeal. It can be easily and economically transported, unlike unprofitable manure, and reduces the need to import concentrates that are added to other types of feed.
Thirdly, the larva's eating style discourages the development of pest flies. As large populations of black soldier fly larvae churn manure, they make it more liquid and less suitable for, not only egg-laying (oviposition) by the pest fly, but the actual development of the pest fly's larvae, thus reducing them substantially"

I definitely have that bugger in my garden. It seems like there larvae stage is quite long though because I have tons of these things chowing down in my compost bin. I had a bunch of buckets of fruits from my elephant fig tree which are not to desirable for eating. I'm sure you can eat them, but they aren't very sweet and kind of hard to get them ripened correctly so I just take down all the low hanging ones so the dog and kids don't mess them.. Anyways, I had a good 4inch layer of just theses fruits and every one of those was just packed with the soldier fly worms chowing down. That's great to know they leave calcium in the soil, I was kind of battling some end root rot on my Roma Tomatoes and all indications seems to point to calcium deficiency's.