Frass is the fine powdery material phytophagous (plant-eating) insects pass as waste after digesting plant parts.[1] It causes plants to excrete chitinase due to high chitin levels, it is a natural bloom stimulant, and has high nutrient levels. Frass is known to have abundant amoeba, beneficial bacteria, and fungi content. Frass is a microbial inoculant, also known as a soil inoculant, that promotes plant health using beneficial microbes. It is a large nutrient contributor to the rainforest, and it can often be seen in leaf mines.
Frass can also refer to the excavated wood shavings that carpenter ants kick out of their galleries during the mining process. Carpenter Ants do not eat wood, so must discard the shavings as they tunnel. [2]
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