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grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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Posted by MeanGreen 7b US (My Page) on Tue, Jul 12, 05 at 14:41
| i just noticed one of my compost bins has grubs or maggots in it today!
i dont compost any meats or dairy, but most of them seemed to be hanging around some egg shells i just recently added. they weren't throughout the whole bin fortunately.
is there something i should be doin before adding egg shells to my heap?
the rest of the heap has lots of horse manure, lots of oak leaves, banana peels, salad green leftovers, egg shells, corn husks and cobs, coffee grounds, an occational spoiled tomato, and a little dirt.
what can i do to keep these nasties out without upsetting my benificial bacteria? would using a pepper concentration help? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| If they are on top they are maggots and a dessicant will get rid of them. You could use a thin layer of dry soil, blood meal, something like that that will be of benefit to the compost but not anything like saltwhich would be a dessicant but also be harmful to the bacteria working in the compost. |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I thought maggots were good because they become hover flys? Am I wrong? |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| It is almost certain that the rubs you're seeing are the larvae of the Black soldier fly, (Hermetia ilucens), which is highly beneficial, carries no disease and will aid the breakdown process in your bin. The link below will take you to a post with a lot more detail. Though the post was originally directed to a person living in Australia, this fly species is common here as well, and the information is as relevant to the US as it is to the Aussies. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg0401113220154.html Kelly S |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| If those larva are black they could be the larva of the Black Soldier Fly but if they are whitish in color they are the larva of the common house fly. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Black Soldier Fly
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I'm afraid your information is incorrect, kimmsr. BSF larvae are sometimes white, though most often light charcoal grey, but not black. The "black" in their name relates to the adults, not the larvae. BSF larvae are easy to differentiate from housefly species, particularly because they are considerably larger than are housefly larvae (BSF larvae are about half an inch long and just a bit bigger around than a #2 pencil, while most housefly larvae in North America are about the size of a grain of rice or smaller). Kelly S |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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I had some brown ones that someone told me were soldier fly larvae:
 |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| That is, indeed, a BSF larva! Using color for identification can be tricky for many reasons, not the lease of which is because the larvae can be colored by the feedstock in which they live. I had some alarmingly-colored BSF in one system after it was fed with BEET residues! Kelly S |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Are fly maggots usually a problem in a worm bed? |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| You likely know this already, but one must always rinse the inside of eggshells before putting them in the compost- and crunching them with your fingers, too. Personally, I've found that eggshells don't even compost, or at least not for a while. *Shrug* |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Rinse? Isn't that a waste of clean water and egg yolk/whites? |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Seriously, who rinses their egg shells before composting? Crunch them up... yes, rinse them... no. Oh, and I compost chicken bones too, they get progressively weaker/thinner each time I screen out a batch of new compost. Usually I'll snap them in half a couple times before they disappear. Cheers,
Kyle |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I always rinse egg shells before tossing them into the compost collection container I keep in the kitchen. Lorna |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I just found a massive amount of the brown maggot shown in picture above in my compost bin! I am confused, are they ok for the bin or not?! If they are not how do I get rid of them? I noticed lots of talk of egg shell, I do throw egg shells in everyday, I do rinse it and crunch it up. Are they after the egg? |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Maggots need a quite moist environment to hatch and grow in, an environment too moist for the bacteria that will be digesting your compost to work in, so the presence of maggots on your compost is an indication that material is too wet and needs to be dried out. Maggots feed on any dead, decaying organic matter, vegetative or meaty or fatty although they could be after the left over egg white, they would not be after the egg shells. |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Not true kimmsr. My REAL LIFE experience is quite the contrary. My piles tend to be on the dry side and what attracts the larvae is not the moisture, but rather the food in the pile. The adults found a great source for food their babies. Larvae are not bad for the compost and in fact are considered beneficial compost organisms. Larvae poo makes good compost. |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| While there are a number of web sites that find no problem with maggots in compost most good sources of information will tell you they should not be there. This from Sandra Mason from the University of Illinois Extension will tell you that as have a number of others that ihave posted. |
Here is a link that might be useful: No maggots in your compost
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Where in that article does it say that maggots should not be in the compost. What it does say is that "piles that are not turned regularly or piles that have thinner areas along the edges can provide refuge and breeding areas for some insects, according to U of I entomologist Phil Nixon. These cooler areas of the pile can harbor stable flies, house flies, and green June beetles." And then it goes on to describe each insect, what they feed on, but it never says the insects are bad for the compost. The article infers that cool, unturned pile are more likely to harbor insects. I can agree with that. But I don't think a cool, unmanaged pile produces bad compost, and the article doesn't say that either. There are more than one way to achieve compost. A hot continually turned pile relies on bacteria for decomposition. A cool, unturned pile relies heavily on insects (and crustaceans) for decomposition. Every person has their own preference for how much work they are willing to put into their compost. Some people prefer to leave the work to the insects. |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I am attaching a link I found while in shock and panic one day seeing my compost swimming full of hungry noisy worms. the article is much the same story as mine. the BSF grub or maggot I was suprised to find as you will be that they are actualy a positive thing for the enviornment and not too well known yet. people even send away for them and actualy farm them. They may solve some of the world waste clean up troubles, are great fertilizer and can be fed to fish and poltry etc.. They are very interesting things and my compost heap( the plastic un-natural type)used to smell terrible and now it does not since these busy guys came to visit. Dont kill them just feed them and exsperiment with the benifits.link below http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/25/HOEIV3JNR.DTL |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I think a large number of people are confusing the Black Soldier Fly, a largely useless adult fly that just lays the eggs that become maggots, with the Black Soldier Beetle, a beneficial insect, a predator of many insect pests. As the writer of the article states, quite clearly I think, the compost was really wet and smelled bad and that is the compost that the adult flies will lay the eggs that become the maggots in, a compost that is too wet to compost properly. The writer of that article clearly describes a poorly managed compost pile that would attract flies of many species including the common house fly. |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| After reading this I am seriously turned off for the home composting stuff. I think I will just work on the worm bin from now on. |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| I just turned my compost and found a bunch of small white maggots. These don't seem to be the larvae of the flies described; they're white, about a quarter of an inch long, and pretty skinny. They seemed to be congregating around an old melon rind and all ran down into the compost as fast as possible once they were exposed. Even if they are good for the compost, I might try to get rid of them, as I'm composting in my backyard in Brooklyn and the bin is right by one of the only seating areas. I would prefer not to have a million flies swarming there in a few weeks. Any suggestions? |
RE: grubs or maggots in my compost bin!!
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| Wow, you guys spend a lot of time combing through your compost. Add more browns and don't worry about it. |
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