DipTerra LLC Videos

This video is a follow-up on the Part I video with the same title which demonstrated how Black Soldier Fly (BSF) egg clutches deposited on the underside of lids and around the perimeter of the walls and top edges of Propagation Bioreactors (PBRs) can be harvested on a three day cycle while farming BSF under steady-state conditions year round. After scraping and flicking the egg clutches into the base of PBRs housing growing larvae and food scrap waste using an artist's paint spatula, and after also adding and mixing additional food scrap waste in with the newly seeded egg clutches added to the waste housed inside the PBRs (at an average load rate of 15 Kg per square meter PBR footprint per 3 day cycle), the underside of the PBR lids and top edges of the PBRs can be lightly swept with a wetted bristle brush, then slapped back in place atop the PBRs in setting the collection process into motion over another three day cycle. Wetting the underside of the lids, and the upper edges of the PBRs, before positioning the lids back atop the PBRs, encourages mating adult BSF to deposit egg clutches around the edges of the PBRs and underside of the lids. This method of propagating new larvae can be carried out on a three day cycle year round with a minimum of labor, oversight and time dedicated to the harvesting and hatching operations as a means of ensuring a steady output of new larvae required in maintaining a BSF farming facility.

This video (Part I) shows a simple method of harvesting and seeding Black Soldier Fly (BSF) egg clutches into food scrap waste in growing larvae under steady-state conditions in Propagation Bioreactors (PBRs). Viable egg clutches deposited by mating females around the perimeter walls and undersides of the PBR lids can be, as shown in the video, easily transferred in minutes into food scrap waste housed inside the PBRs. Egg clutches accumulating over a three day cycle are flicked from the lids and walls into the waste using a common painter's spatula. Egg clutches deposited into the waste, which itself is infested with growing larvae, mix with fresh food scrap waste also added to the PBRs at an average load rate of 5 Kg per day per square meter bioreactor foot print space (15 Kg per square meter added every third day). Young larvae emerging from the egg clutches feed and grow off food scrap waste inside the PBRs up through their prepupa stage. Upon reaching the prepupa stage in their life cycle they stop feeding on the waste and spontaneously self-harvest free of the PBR seeking a drier environment to pupate. Portions of the waste infested with larvae and seeded with egg clutches can also be transferred from the PBRs on a regular basis as needed to larger secondary bioreactors (not shown) serving as a means of replacing and sustaining larval yields managed in larger scale commercial farming facilities run in tandem with the PBR units. The larval population in the waste is a mixture of larvae of all ages ranging from newly hatched larvae barely visible to the naked eye up to those reaching the prepupa stage in their life-cycle of approximately 2 cm in length and 0.5 in diameter. A second video to follow shows how to reseat the PBR lids atop the PBRs in a manner that encourages mating female BSF to continue depositing their egg clutches around the walls of the PBRs and undersides of the lids which helps ensure an uninterrupted steady-state production of viable egg cl

This video shows characteristic egg clutches deposited by mating females on inside walls and underside edges of BSF Propagation Bioreactors (PBRs) housed inside a BSF Propagation Workstation. Many thousands of eggs are laid in and about the PBRs. Young larvae hatching from the eggs, each about the size of a grain of sand, grow to the prepupa stage (about 3/4 inches long and 3/8" in diameter) in about 2.5 to 3 weeks off food scrap waste. Larvae grown in this manner can be used to seed larger PBRs in farming larvae and byproducts derived from food scrap waste on a commercial scale.

This video shows BSF adults that have emerged from their puparia flying about inside a BSF Propagation Workstation (PW). Adults mate in midflight. They mate in natural light in this instance coming through built-in skylights in the PW. After mating females lay new egg clutches on the walls and under the lids of Propagation Bioreactors (PBRs) (not shown in this video). Young larvae hatch and grow off food waste added to the PBRs into prepupae, exit the PBRs, pupate, and emerge from their puparia in carrying on each new generation. Egg clutches and young larvae collected in the PW can be used to seed food scrap waste in scaling up farming and harvest of BSF larvae from which byproducts including the larvae can be harvested and sold commercially.