Feed the root zone
Nutrients + organic matter.
Frass contributes nutrients and organic material to the soil around plant roots.
The science behind Bug Poop
Why growers believe in cricket frass
Peer-reviewed studies and real grower feedback point in the same direction: cricket frass can support plant establishment and vegetative growth, while its nutrients, organic matter and chitin-containing material make the root zone scientifically interesting.
Direct cricket-frass studies
14 papers and reviews
UK reared crickets
PURE CRICKET FRASS
The science in 20 seconds
Why frass is interesting.
The short version before the studies.
Add something unusual
Insect-derived material.
Cricket frass naturally contains insect-derived material including chitin.
Measure the response
Plants can respond.
Direct studies have reported changes in survival, vegetative growth and crop performance.
Peer-reviewed field study · Madagascar Biodiversity Center
What happened when researchers tried it?
Cricket frass produced the strongest survival and vegetative growth in the green-bean trial.
At the highest tested cricket-frass dose, plant survival reached 88.1% and vegetative biomass reached 35.5g per plant, the strongest results in the trial for those measures.
Put simply: the plants given the strongest cricket-frass treatment established better and produced the strongest vegetative growth in the study.
88.1%plant survival at the highest tested dose
35.5gvegetative biomass per plant at that dose
Study context
Survival and vegetative biomass were the clearest positive results. The highest cricket-frass dose reached 88.1% survival, and its 35.5g average vegetative biomass per plant was significantly higher than every other treatment. Total pod biomass did not differ significantly between treatments, so we do not use pod yield as the headline result.
More direct evidence
Other crops. Different conditions.
Researchers have also tested cricket frass on zucchini and tomatoes.
Cricket frass improved plant performance in a field zucchini study.
Across two contrasting sites, plant height and leaf number generally increased as cricket-frass dose increased. Overall, cricket frass improved zucchini survival, growth and yield relative to the unfertilised control.
The strongest yield treatment depended on the site, so the study supports cricket frass as a promising organic fertiliser rather than a universal replacement for NPK.
Read the zucchini study ↗Low-dose cricket frass showed biostimulant effects in tomatoes.
Researchers found a clear dose-dependent response. At 0.1% w/w, cricket frass showed typical biostimulant features; at 0.5% and 1.0%, it produced elicitor-type responses under the tested conditions.
Read the tomato study ↗Published science meets real gardens
Real growers backed it too.
Published science matters, but so does what happens in real gardens. In our small blind grower test, Bug Poop got a very strong response.
Photos courtesy of Oadby Baptist Church Community Gardens.
016 out of 6 said they would use Bug Poop again
026 out of 6 said they would recommend it to a friend
03Growers reported healthier-looking plants
How the grower test worked
Small blind grower test with six amateur growers. This is customer feedback rather than a controlled academic trial, but it is a strong real-world signal.
The product behind the science
Pure cricket frass from our own UK-reared crickets.
One 300g bag treats up to 100L of soil or compost at 30g per 10L. Free standard UK delivery.
£19.99one 300g bag
100Ltreated per bag
Happy oryour money back
For the curious
Why it works in the root zone
Bug Poop adds nutrients, organic matter and insect-derived material directly into the root zone. That combination helps explain why researchers are interested in cricket frass as more than just a basic fertiliser.
Go deeper on the mechanism
Nutrients
Frass contains plant nutrients that become part of the growing environment.
Organic matter
It adds carbon-rich material to the soil around the roots.
Chitin
Plant biology research shows that chitin fragments can be recognised by plant signalling systems, helping explain why chitin-rich inputs are scientifically interesting.
Mechanism research explains plausible biological pathways. Direct cricket-frass studies remain the closest evidence for expected agronomic effects.