help - flies (bad) and worms (good) in compost bin

16 years ago

I have a swarm of whitish gnats in my compost bin and their numbers have been increasing over the past few weeks. There was a discussion here about whitefly in compost a few weeks back and it sounds as if I have what a poster described as fungus gnats (like fruit flies but lighter in color).

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/nwest/msg0321044714798.html

I also have a thriving population of worms that do a great job of chewing through my compost. My question is whether a soap spray would hurt the worms - what do you think?

Comments (12)

jean001
16 years ago
Mix up the compost to disrupt their lifecycle.

Better yet, cover the stuff with a layer of browns.

In any event, fly larvae belong to nature's composting crew.
scarleta
16 years ago
Hello: I posted here same problem before and mine is getting better with warm weather.Apparently they are lots of drain flies due to wet winter and spring. Not sure where you are? Anyways mixing is good and add brown leaves.They are doing their job just have not balanced situation.I sprayed soapy water , but it really is not helping much.Its not needed to spray.I know it looks like snowing when you disturb them right? Anyways good luck to you..
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cangrow
16 years ago
We had the clouds of tiny white flies last year. When I was consistent about covering new material with dried leaves, they weren't a problem anymore.
sea_jen
Original Author
16 years ago
An update - Thanks for the suggestions - dry brown is the way to go! My compost is in a tumbler, so it gets tumbled regularly. I tried putting a thin layer of sawdust over the top after the tumble, and this seems to be working.
scarleta
16 years ago
Please do let us know what exactly worked for you? I still have a bit of a problem but much less.The sun helps as it gets bit dryer.Let us know how much and what you added exactly to make an improvement.thanks
milo_z7
16 years ago
Wouldn't watering with a dissolved Mosquito dunk help?
sea_jen
Original Author
16 years ago
Me the OP again. I'd be hesitant to use a mosquito dunk b/c of the worms and b/c I try to keep things organic (the compost gets used on my vegetable gardent).

Here's what I did exactly - tumbled the compost as usual. Then I scattered some old sawdust over the top so that there was a thin layer everywhere - just enough so that you couldn't make out the veggie peels, etc. underneath. I imagine that dried leaves, straw, or even dried mulch would work as well.
scarleta
16 years ago
Thanks for that.Where do you get untreated sawdust? Also what wood was it from I was told cedar dust is not very good for composting.Thanks
milo_z7
16 years ago
Mosquito Dunks only kills fly and mosquito larvae, they do absolutely no harm to earthworms. Since all they contain are a naturally occuring bacterium they would also be considered organic. That being said, I'm glad sawdust helped the problem :-)
sea_jen
Original Author
16 years ago
Oh! Thanks for the correction on the mosquito dunks. I'll look for them if the problem gets worse.

I inherited the sawdust as part of a plant exchange from a fellow gardener. One good source is probably folks who are getting stumps ground...
the_overlord
16 years ago
I am doing a science project and there are over a thousand little grey flies on the compost and spiderwebs.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dottyinduncan
16 years ago
One of the things you can use for browns is shredded paper, especially the cross-cut kind. Check out the compost forum on G/W for more info than you ever thought you would need! It's a great forum.