Insect frass, a soil life activator

Regular price $24.00
Regular price Sale price $24.00
Poids Price Price per kg vs 500 g
500 g $24.00 $48.00—
1 kg $32.00 $32.00−33 %
4 kg $87.00 $21.75−55 %

This insect guano comes from rearing mealworm larvae and gives the soil organic matter rich in chitin. Made in France and suitable for organic farming, it is mixed into the potting compost at 5 g per litre when repotting.

Ref. TK-INSECTFRASS-500G·Amendement organique
Poids : 500 g
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The summary

  • Origin: an insect guano, made from the droppings of mealworm larvae, rich in chitin.
  • What it is for: feeding the microbial life of the soil and speeding up the breakdown of organic fertilisers.
  • When repotting: 5 g per litre of added grow medium, on top of your usual feeding.
  • During the growing season: one application raked into the surface during flowering, repeated 15 days later.
  • Organic status: approved for use, and made in France.
  • Sizes: 500 g, 1 kg or 4 kg, i.e. 1.35 to 11 litres of product.

Mealworm larvae castings rich in chitin, to wake up life in the soil

Insect Frass by Guano Diffusion is a guano from mealworm larvae, rich in chitin and suitable for organic growing. Mixed at 5 g per litre of potting compost with Alguamycor, it revives the life of the soil. The 500 g pouch treats 100 litres and the 4 kg bag treats 800, in the vegetable garden, never in the fish water.

Frass, or insect guano, is the droppings of farmed insect larvae, here those of the mealworm, the larva of the yellow mealworm beetle. This guano is rich in chitin, the polysaccharide that forms the shell of insects, and it supplies the soil with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in organic, slow-release form: 3.6% nitrogen, 2.7% phosphorus pentoxide and 2.5% potassium oxide, within organic matter that makes up 84% of the raw product. Made in France, it can be used in organic farming and is classed among organic soil improvers. You work it into the potting compost or soil to revive a poor soil, as a complement to your usual organic fertilisers.

🦠 Feeding the life in the soil

A fertile soil harbours a considerable population of bacteria and microscopic fungi, which break down organic matter and make its elements available to the roots. Insect guano feeds this microflora: its chitin serves as a resource for micro-organisms able to degrade it, and its organic matter speeds up the decomposition of the other organic fertilisers present in the grow medium. The phosphorus in the soil thus becomes more available, while the slow release of nutrients limits the risk of burning the roots. This is why the product is presented as a soil activator rather than as a fertiliser with an immediate effect.

Chitin

This polysaccharide from insects serves as a resource for soil micro-organisms that are able to break it down.

Slow release

The nutrients pass gradually into the soil, which limits the risk of root burn.

Phosphorus

Microbial activity improves the availability of phosphorus to the roots.

Organic fertilisers

Frass speeds up the breakdown of the other organic inputs in the grow medium.

🪴 At repotting and during flowering

The reference dose is 5 g per litre of grow medium added, to be mixed in when repotting, on top of your usual fertilisers. An example helps with the calculation: if you move a plant from a 3-litre pot to an 11-litre pot, you add 8 litres of potting compost, and therefore 40 g of insect guano. During flowering, a second application is placed on the surface and worked in by raking, then repeated 15 days later if flowering runs beyond nine weeks. Then water as normal, so that the micro-organisms find the moisture they need to do their work.

Living soil for your vegetable-garden seedlings

If you are transplanting tomatoes, squashes or strawberry plants in the vegetable garden, mix the Alguamycor root stimulant from the same brand into the same potting compost, at 10 g per litre. Its mycorrhizae associate with the roots while the frass feeds the soil bacteria, so the young plant immediately finds a living grow medium to explore. Both powders are incorporated at the same time, when potting on, with no additional step.

To complement fertilisation

Insect guano is added to your usual fertilisers and does not replace them. Stick to the dose of 5 g per litre of grow medium, and mix it into the soil rather than leaving it in a heap at the base of the plants.

🪰 From insect farming to the soil

European law has defined frass since 2021 as a mixture of excrement from farmed insects, leftovers of their feeding substrate, insect fragments and unhatched eggs, with dead insects making up no more than 3% of the weight. Before it can be placed on the market as a fertiliser, it must be heated to 70 °C for one hour, the same sanitisation as that applied to processed manures, in order to destroy any pathogenic micro-organisms. Its richness in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is close to that of poultry manure, with the addition of chitin: this molecule, which forms the shell of insects, is the second most abundant in the living world after cellulose. Frass is thus the co-product of an industry whose larvae are processed into proteins and fats.

🐟 Frass and aquaponics

The mealworm links this product to aquaponics by a route other than water: since July 2017, the processed proteins of seven farmed insect species, of which it is one along with the black soldier fly, have been authorised in the feed of farmed fish in Europe. The frass, by contrast, stays on the soil side. It must never be poured into a fish tank or an aquaponic grow bed: like manure, it would release into the water ammonium, phosphorus and organic particles that the filter would have to deal with, and whose decomposition would use up the oxygen in the water. If you run both an aquaponic system and a soil-grown vegetable garden, it has its place in planters, pots and open-ground beds. The article on vermiponics explains how worms, for their part, can be integrated into grow beds.

📦 The three sizes

The 500 g pouch contains about 1.35 litres of product, enough to treat 100 litres of added grow medium, or around ten repottings in medium-sized pots. The 1 kg pouch, of about 2.7 litres, suits a well-stocked balcony or a season of vegetable plants in the garden. The 4 kg bag, of about 11 litres, treats 800 litres of grow medium and is aimed at large vegetable gardens and plant production. To go further on the natural enrichment of soil, the article on vermicompost presents another organic soil improver, which you can also find in a ready-to-use bag.

Technical specifications

The product

Origin
Mealworm larvaeTenebrio molitor, French-reared
Key component
ChitinPolysaccharide from insect shells
Total nitrogen
3.6 %Of which 3.2% non-urea nitrogen
Phosphorus and potassium
P2O5 2.7 %, K2O 2.5 %
Organic matter
84% of the raw productFor 87% dry matter
Organic farming
UsableOrganic soil improver, made in France
Sanitising
70 °C for 1 hourA requirement of the European regulation on frass
Fish circuit
Outside the aquaponic systemPots, planters and vegetable patches in soil

Usage

Dose
5 g per litre of grow mediumAdded when repotting, on top of the usual fertilisers
Example
40 g for every 8 L addedMoving from a 3 L pot to an 11 L pot
During flowering
Scratched into the surfaceRepeated 15 days later if flowering continues
Volumes
1.35, 2.7 or 11 LFor 500 g, 1 kg and 4 kg

4 further specifications are available in the detailed view.

In the box

  • 1 sachet of Insect Frass in 500 g, 1 kg or 4 kg, depending on the weight chosen

Origin, analysis, NF U 44-051 standard, dose, repotting example and volumes: manufacturer's data sheet (guano-diffusion.com). Definition and hygienisation: Regulation (EU) 2021/1925, according to the IPIFF.

Manufacturer and product safety

Manufacturer
Guano Diffusion

Information provided under Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety.

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Frequently asked questions

6 questions

6 key questions

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