For making a mix for potted plants: Plan on adding one cup of insect frass per cubic foot of potting soil.For continued benefits, you can top dress the bed with more frass every few weeks throughout the growing season. Then, gently dig the top half foot of soil up, watering it thoroughly before mixing in the frass. For fertilizing raised beds: Plan to add a pound of insect frass to 20 square feet of garden space.Then, use it to drench the roots of your plants. However, if your plants are already growing you can mix some insect frass in water and let it steep for several hours. Furthermore, the method you use depends on the use you want to put your garden compost towards.īefore applying insect frass to your garden, it’s usually best to pre-mix it into soil or compost. There are plenty of ways you can apply insect frass to your garden. Obviously, making it a simple way to access this valuable substance. Insect frass is also one of the only sources of chitin that is available from plants. Plus, the beneficial microbes from the guts of insects. #Digested organics brew full#Additionally, it changes the pH level to make it better suited to perennials, shrubs, and trees.īecause insect frass is made entirely from digested plants, it’s full of the nutrients that plants require to grow robustly. Composting insect frass only adds to the benefits by maximizing the number of fungi within the frass. Though the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) aren’t as high in insect frass as they are in bird or mammal manure, insect frass is still a sustainable, beneficial form of fertilizer to add to your garden. How Does Insect Frass Benefit the Soil and Crops? Cricket frass tends to be sold under names like Kricket Crap, while meal worm frass is often labeled mealworm castings.įor high-quality frass, you can try products such as the one found here. Insect frass can be bought from a wide variety of specialty garden stores. Even more so, it can make a big difference in garden plots and potted plants alike. Thus, making it a perfect, well-rounded form of plant food.īecause of this, insect frass is a high-quality organic soil additive. This means that when you use insect frass to add nutrients to your garden, you are essentially feeding back digested plants to your plants. But unlike guano or castings, frass comes entirely from plants that herbivore insects chew up. And, it can make a big difference for the fertility of your garden. Just like bat guano or worm castings, insect frass is a natural form of compost. It is derived from a German word that meant ‘devouring like a beast.’ We can only assume that the ravenous appetites of leaf-munching locusts and caterpillars provided the inspiration for such a peculiar name. The term ‘frass’ came into the English language around the mid 19th century. Though chitin doesn’t act as a pesticide, its presence prepares plants to better withstand a pest-filled onslaught, should one come. Thus, causing them to build up their cell walls and release natural insect toxins as a defense. The presence of chitin triggers plants to think that insects are eating them. Thus, causing them to rev up and defend themselves against predators like root-feeding nematodes and disease pathogens in the soil. When used in fertilizer, chitin triggers the immune systems of plants. Chitin’s benefit to plants is that it causes them to be fortified from their cell walls out. In many cases, it is also found in algae and yeast. The Importance of ChitinĬlosely related to cellulose, chitin is a naturally occurring molecule that is found in the shells of crustaceans like lobsters and crabs, as well as the exoskeletons of insects. In either case, these droppings have more benefits for your garden than you probably realize. They tend to blend right in with your garden plants and soil, which is why you probably never noticed them before. Some insects produce a liquid form of frass while others create small, dry droppings that are easy to scoop up. Yet contrary to what many people think, insects DO poop, and their droppings go by the highly scientific name of frass. How much thought have you given insect poop? If you’re like most people, not much.
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