What do you think; you’d take in insect poop? If you are like most people, your answer would be No.
But contrary to what many people think are meaningless insects, their feces come with high scientific name frass. Some insects produce liquid frass, while others produce small, dry feces that are easy to catch. They usually fit into the garden and soil plants, and therefore probably haven’t noticed them before.
Either way, these feces have more advantages in the garden than you will probably understand.
What is Insect Frass?
Insect frass contains a unique chemical blend of nourishing nutrients that act as a supernatural fertilizer in your garden. Of course, it occurs in small amounts, but it can also be purchased as fertilizer. Mealworm casting is one of the most common commercially produced insects poop.
How to Identify Insect Frass
Various insects leave behind frass with an appearance that is unique to the insect. This allows you to determine what kind of insect infestation is taking place on the site. Insect frass, for example, can be soft and fibrous. This type of frass has pieces of wood and other debris in the mix. This is one of the most important identification points for infection since termites contain only faucal matter. Termite frass, on the other hand, consists exclusively of feces. It is shaped like a pellet, and these small droplets are about a millimeter in size. They’re located in an exit hole in the forest where termites dug their way into the forest to build a nest. They don’t want their excrement in the nests, so they push them through those holes to the other side. This termite frass is an important indicator of a huge termite infection and requires immediate action.
How Does Insect Frass Benefit the Soil and Crops?
Frass offers your plants a variety of advantages. The nutrients it contains, including nitrogen and potassium, can help improve soil, regulate and promote oxygen production in plants by promoting solid growth.
Frass is sometimes sold in conjunction with insect exoskeletons (usually sold as casings and frass) that work like a bone meal (phosphorus) on your soil and can help improve the overall nutrient content of the soil. This is particularly useful frass for young seedlings (add something to plant) and more vulnerable plants or those that suffer from repeated pest infestation.
The insect also contains chitin, which helps plants maintain strong and resilient cell walls. Chitin is a close relative of cellulose. When added to plant soil, it can also help reduce mildew and act as an antibody against pests and microbes such as root-knot nematodes. Chitin also helps to fight disease-causing microorganisms in the soil.
Chitin strengthens plants by tricking them into believing that they are eaten by insects. As a result, they react by strengthening the cell walls. Chitin also helps with plant immunity, as it contains antibodies that are used by both plants and the surrounding soil. With a large amount of minced meat, the pH of the soil can also be beneficial and make it more acidic (the chitin pH is around 3).
Do You Purchase Insect Frass as a Fertilizer?
Like other animal fertilizers, such as horse manure and bone meal, insects are very useful in growing strong and abundant plants.
Although you almost see insect frass in vegetables or gardens, it is a nutrient that your soil can certainly provide more than natural insects can produce. You can find it by looking at the leaves and under it and around the surface of the soil. If you only trust insects in the garden, you won’t get as much from them, so some gardeners will pick them up in large quantities.
If you add insect frass to the soil, your garden can be vital. This is for sale and is suitable for organic gardeners. If you cannot find it in the center of your local specialty garden, contact the breeders of butterflies, mealworms or crickets, who can sell frass directly to you.
How Do Use Insect Frass?
You can apply insect frass as a foliar spray. Mix five grams of dried frass per liter of water and use a light sprinkler to moisten the mixture of plants and the surrounding soil. It is very valuable for watering smaller, delicate plants and seeds. It is also good to use after mixing with liquid algae (seaweed) that are diluted in an aqueous mixture.
You can also mix a pound of dried frass with vegetables outside or in the soil at a height of about 20 feet. Gently mix the topsoil, and then immerse it in a place with a fine mist. You can also try it as part of the root directory – very flexible!
Frass is not a pesticide, which means it doesn’t attack or damage other beneficial insects in your garden and can be used in organic and biodynamic gardens. It also doesn’t take into account all soil and plant needs, so don’t forget about composting.