Meadows. Brussels sprouts. Kale. Mustard. Lettuce and arugula. Now red chili peppers joined the list of plants benefiting from soil amendments derived from black soldier fly frass. It is likely that this list will continue to grow as research in this area expands.

Sanjaya, Y., Surakusumah, W., Pratama, A.M. and Ihsan, A., 2024. Utilization of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) casting as compost to increase vegetative growth of red chili (Capsicum annuum L.). Journal of Entomological Research, 48(2), 267-270.

This study examines as to how black soldier fly casting can increase the vegetative growth of red chili (Capsicum annuum L). This study aims to determine what substances/nutrients are present in the black soldier fly casting, and the feasibility of using casting as compost for the growth of red chilli plants with NPK fertilizer. This research is motivated by the need for fertilizers in Indonesia that cannot meet national fertilizer needs because the need for gas supply as a staple for production continues to decline. Therefore an alternative fertilizer is needed, namely by using organic fertilizer. This study uses a completely randomized design method with seven treatments and three replications. The treatments include BSF casting fertilizer (concentration 0:1; 1:1; 1:2; 1:3; 1:4), NPK fertilizer and compost fertilizer in 300 g. The data taken is plant height, number of leaves, and leaf area. To analyze the data used One Way Test, Wilcoxon Test and Anova Advanced Test, Tukey Test. The results showed that the application of BSF casting fertilizer had a good influence on the growth of stem height, root length, number of leaves, and leaf area. In the BSF casting content analysis there are several substances/nutrients needed by plants such as N, P, K and micro nutrients. The conclusion of this study is that BSF casting has the nutrients needed by plants and 1:3 concentration treatment has the highest growth rate.