When I was farming at the Kimberton Hills BD farm we had rat-tailed larvae in our liquid manure tank, they seemed quite happy in there ! Here in Scotland we have two 5000 gal. underground tanks to collect the dairy washings. I add lots of BC, it's a great way of getting all the preps over all the fields, when I spray it out with the tanker. It is too dark to see who is living down there ! Gideon. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vere Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "BDnow Discussion list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 11:13 PM Subject: Fly larvae in European farm liquid manure slurry: identification
> I recall when visiting a European organic (not sure if it was biodynamic > --- would a biodynamic farm have a slurry pit?) farm in 1984 I saw these > astonishingly large larvae (I believe they were fly maggots) exiting a > large, partially below-ground, slurry pit. After growing by consuming the > slurry, they were leaving and moving away from the liquid manure, I assume > to pupate in the soil. No one on the farm gave them a second glance. I > assume therefore that they were beneficial or at least not pestiferous. > This was in either Germany or Switzerland. Would anyone know their > approximate identity? To what family of diptera they might have belonged? > > Since nettle water and other fermenting plant extracts smells remarkably > like liquid hog manure (a point not often emphasized, let alone mentioned, > in popular biodynamic literature!) I assume certain flies would be > attracted to lay eggs in the concoction. I keep my nettle water loosely > covered during fermentation. I've had no flies developing in it. The > odour is not all that bad. I live in an urban residential area on a > 25-foot wide lot. My neighbours don't complain about, or perhaps even > notice, the odours of which I'm acutely aware. > > There is quite a lot of work being done currently on using the (tropical > and subtropical) black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens (L.)) to help > reduce organic waste. See: http://www.ads.uga.edu/annrpt/1995/95_311.htm. > I don't think this was the species I saw. > > Vere. >
