mostly you have to have the soldier flies around to lay their eggs in the food waste, which isn't likely in the winter - I suppose you might find someplace to buy some if you're really keen on the idea, but .... why??

Bill

Why? REad this article. http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm

The article you refer to (http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm) is regarding putrescent waste processing such as meats, grease, manures other than livestock (human, chicken, etc).

You DON'T want these materials OR larva in your worm bin...do you?

yes, if you want to use your bin as a "garbage" disposal system, and will have thick layers of rotting material on the surface, and you don't mind working in clouds of flies, and you don't mind that your worms will be cowering in the bottom of the bin [they don't like BSF larva], what you want is to be doing hot composting, not worm composting - a reasonably managed worm bin wouldn't provide the conditions conducive to soldier fly colonization

Bill

I can see that the above poster (SQUEEZE) didn't read the article on BSF.

http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm

You can feed them whatever you like. You don't have to feed them meat or dairy products. You can throw this in your garbage bin to be dumped in the landfill. Redworms will apparently eat their castings and give you a very high quality worm casting.

People have different reasons for raising worms, some for a garbage disposal system (ME) others as pets and there are probably more reasons that I can't think of.

Why do the people who read this raise worms? That's a subject for a post.

Maybe some are in it to make vermicompost...an organic fertilizer 5-7 times richer than regular compost?

yeah, sorry, my browser doesn't do powerpoint presentations - OTOH, being an active long time composter/vermicomposter, I'm well aware of the habits and usefulness of BSF, and that's NOT in a worm bin, or even in the usual backyard compost bin, but in large manure and ag-animal mort handling

see here for one discussion - here for a thought about backyard problems

the larvae require a wetter environment than worms tolerate, and if you adjust the moisture to please the worms, the larvae will disappear - the only usefullness of BSF in worm culture would be to add more feed for the worms from the larvae's waste

and as for their preferred feed, it is always called "putrescent":
"pu·tre·fac·tion
Decomposition of organic matter, especially protein, resulting in production of foul-smelling matter"
not the object of my composting, which is food waste recycling, not garbage disposal

Bill