Eeek - Fly swam in my compost!

[Steve M]

Hi there - I have been getting loads of fruit flies in my compost bin. So many in fact that when I opn it they swam out. Anybody have any ideas why and how they get there?? I keep everything covered and have a bine with a lid for my kitchen peelings etc. A friend of mine told me that furit and veg will often have fruit fly eggs on the skin when you buy it which I suppose would explain it. Any ideas how I can get rid off them? Hopefully the the impending winter will sort them out - a bit gross though.

[Muddypause]

I say, I say, I say, what's this fly doing in my compost? The butterfly stroke, sir.

Oh, hang on; you didn't mean 'swam', did you?

I couldn't say my compost bin is fly-free when I take the lid off, but putting stuff like meat in will attract insects, too. Turning the compost regularly should help, though it can be difficult getting a fork in some of the smaller dalek bins. Perhaps remove it from the bottom hatch and put it back in the top on a regular basis. Should help the composting process anyway.

The warmth of the decaying compost is probably making the bin the last refuge for them now the weather is getting colder. In theory, if you can get the temperature up high enough, all these sorts of pests are killed off. But the smaller bins don't really seem conducive to this.

[Chickenlady]

I have had this too, and nothing goes in mine except raw fruit and veg waste. I have turned it and it is a load of nasty mush - not really the crumbly compost I was hoping for!

I don't think I have quite got the hang of composting. I was considering buying an accelerator of some kind. Not sure it would help with the fruit flies, though.

Sorry, no help at all and I am trying to steal your thread!

[Wombat]

chicken lady!

Sounds like too much nitrogen and not enough carbon - try mixing through some dry chopped straw or hay. It will absorb the water and speed up the decomposition, heating up the compost in the process. If you've got the right mix you don't need an activator and if you haven't got the right mix it won't help.

Steve M,

You might want to try a bit of builders lime (calcium hydroxide). It will raise the pH of your compost and give the maggots a really hard time. This is probably one of the few times when builders lime would be more effective than agricultural lime (calcium carbonate).

Nev

[wulf]

I find that my 'dalek compost' is often much better after I've finished it off with a couple of months sitting in the open air to 'season'. As the bin gets full up, I'll occasionally take the bottom layer and spread it where I've got some bare ground as a thick mulch - I protect and flavour the soil as well as finishing off my compost.

It does smell though!

Wulf

[FluffyMuppet]

Hi Steve,

Fruit flies and sciarid flies (fungas gnats) are both annoying little creatures which do seem to appear out of nowhere.

If you can cover your compost heap with something that is less appealing for them to lay their eggs on (a few sheets of newspaper for example) then that should help. They need a damp surface for the maggot stage and then a dry area to pupate - which makes most compost heaps their ideal environment!

For composting in general, I follow CAT's 'high fibre' philosophy, which means I don't bother with layers as such, but make sure that there's plenty of scrunched up newspaper to balance out the green and damp stuff. My personal belief is that cardboard tubes are very helpful - not only are they dry, carbon rich material, until they collapse they provide oxygen reservoirs for the compost-munching bacteria. I just throw in the toilet roll/ kitchen roll tubes as and when they arise.

HTH
Emma

[diver]

I have lots of fruit flies when I open my compost bins which only contain fruit and veg but hdra say in their leaflets that this is quite normal so I don't worry about it and the resulting compost is fine

[Andy Hamilton]

aghhh scarid flies, I hate them they have destroyed so many of our plants over the last 2 years as the tiny maggots will eat the roots of the plants. We have kept the number in the house to a manageable level by having a carnivorous plant.

As for using an activator in the compost, if I have had a flask of tea on my allotment eventually I have to take the call of nature somewhere and the ammonia works great.

[wulf]

The way I get newspaper into the mix is that I use it to line my kitchen compost bin. This not only increases the carbon content but also limits the build up of sludgy, smelly mess inside the bin from coffee grounds, etc.

From time to time, I'll shred an egg carton or some corrugated packaging cardboard into the compost as well.

Wulf

[ina]

Papertowels, from the loo at work, are great in the compost, too... Ok, admittedly I have the advantage of more or less living on the job and not having to carry heavy bags full of towels past a bemused nightwatchman . "And what are you taking home with you in that bag, Sir?"

Ina

[Steve M]

Excellent idea to line my kitchen compost caddy with news paper - I shall do it as soon as I get home. I think I'll also add loo roles etc to the mix.

Thanks for all the advice - needless to say the cold weather of later seems to have finished the swarm (i know I put swam in my original post!) - it just wasn't nice taking the lid of and them flying up my nose ergghh!!