soldier fly larvae in Florida compost

We have an organic farm in the Florida panhandle and I wonder if anyone here has these handy little bugs in their recycle/compost bins? They do a terrific job of busting down the waste and have several other benefits as well. Do a Google search and you'll be surprised at what you find.

They are native and abundant where you are. Any sizeable compost in the open, especially one containing food scraps, should have plenty. They are the big "maggots", often over an inch in length.....housefly larvae are smaller. The adults look rather like a black wasp, and wave their antennae up and down when they land......
In a large enough compost, they should overwinter even as grubs, especially if you mulch the pile. In any case the mature larvae crawl out and go dormant in the soil, to hatch out and appear next spring. This characteristic is what makes the various bins work so well for them, since the mature grubs crawl off on their own into a handy collection container......

Hi Ron. Raising BSF is on my to-do list. I recently watched a very good video series which showcased the Bio pod system and I thought it looked like a well thought out design. What type of set up do you use?

They're great little composters. We have the flies get into the house occasionally and my children like to catch them off the windows.