Insect Frass – what the crap?

Posted byEric

Frass is a common term that refers to insect detritus. That is to say, bug poop. While ‘honeydew’ is liquid version of insect excrement, frass is the term used for the solid waste. For horticultural purposes, including cannabis gardening, the cultivator should be sourcing frass from a herbivorous insect. Mealworm frass is quite common given that mealworms are produced to feed poultry, reptiles, fish and amphibians that need live food. Insect frass is often very reasonably priced and has great value in organic living soils.

As frass breaks down it provides a low, balanced amount of NPK. Like fish hydrolysate, frass has a high amount of chitin. While crustaceans use chitin to form their shells, bugs use chitin to form their rigid exoskeletons. Plants react to the presence of chitin (and other chemicals in frass) as if they are being attacked by bugs. Thus, your cannabis plants will try to develop thicker stems as well as thickening of the epidermis and cuticle (outer layer of cells and the waxy coating that protects the plant from excessive transpiration and insect attack). The idea is to encourage the plant to become stronger and therefore more resistant to pests.

An attractive secondary benefit is that chitin is a substance that fungi use to make its hyphae. Fungus literally uses chitin as its ‘skin.’ Most of us do our best to encourage rigorous myccorhizal fungi growth in our root zones and insect frass will help promote this growth and therefore increase the potential for nutrient uptake for our cannabis plants.

I’ve found benefit in mixing about 1/4cup of frass to each cubic feet of soil initially, then top dressing with a light dusting every two weeks through the life-cycle of the plant. Because I top dress regularly, I don’t use frass to re-ammend my soil between crops.

Finally, frass can make an excellent tea. Brew it in a cheese cloth (so it can easily be removed) for an hour or so and your tea will be infused with chitin, nutrients, and other chemicals that will help achieve the desired effects described above.

Do you use frass in your grow? We’d love to hear the details and whether or not you find it beneficial.

Happy Harvests!
— The Lit Farmer —

Published by Eric

Lit Naturals founder, Eric McSwain, serves as Chairman of the Board for the Missouri Cannabis Industry Association. He is also a certified caregiver and patient. Eric's wife is also a caregiver and he also mentors several other caregivers in the state of Missouri. Eric's passion is for educating patients in the use of cannabis as well as at-home cultivation.