Quote Originally Posted by urbanfarmer
BTW, I'm here in central FL... around when do the black soldier fly stop reproducing and doing their thing? I was worried my bin was done since we had some cool weather here, but today when I was about to pack up the bin I noticed a fly trying to get in. I think I'm going to find time in about 2 weeks to build a BSF bin that works, but I didn't want to do it if the season was just about over... what do you think?

Have you heard of anyone digging a hole in the ground and using that as a BSF bin/pit? For now I have just used it to get rid of meat scraps and I rarely pick out some maggots for the fish. I'm feeling really lazy about the whole thing!
I doubt they are done for the year yet, UF! They will continue mating so long as the weather is above about 78F. They do even better in the 80-90F range. Here in southwest Florida, I saw outdoor egglaying begin to decline in November. There was sporadic egglaying through December and January. I kept records of my egg harvesting throughout the past year and the reproductive rate really ramped up again beginning in early February. You can easily keep a colony alive through the winter here and your idea about using a hole in the ground is a good one! Keep the colony fed over the winter and they will emerge in the spring to kickstart things for you (and continue to compost your food waste in the interim!)