Compost bin flies

[Innocents Abroad]

We have a compost bin in the garden used purely for kitchen waste (uncooked vegetable waste only) and it gets filled from a convenient little compost bin that I keep in the kitchen.  The outside bin is quite large and is only about an eighth full even though it's been on the go for about ten months.  There have always been a few flies when you lift the lid but it's now getting beyond endurance.  In fact I've just been out there and when the lid was lifted I was engulfed in a cloud of those little fruit flies - to such an extent that I had a screaming fit, threw the little bin down on the floor and ran away [:-))]

I want to carry on using the bin for kitchen waste (we have a separate compost heap for garden waste) but the thought of being covered in flies when the lid opens brings me out in a cold sweat.  Even 'he who has no fear' is a little reluctant to empty the kitchen bin these days!

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?  If I just left the lid off would this help or would it encourage mice?

 Lynda M

 

[suein56]

When I put our kitchen waste in the compost bin yesterday I was engulfed in a cloud of small flies too, so I reckon it might be the time of year or the fact the weather is so very mild at the moment and, hopefully, nothing more sinister.

Sue

[andyh4]

Personally I would not separate garden and kitchen vegetable waste.  Covering the fruit and vegetable waste with grass cuttings does help to keep the numbers more managable

[Innocents Abroad]

Thanks for your responses Sue & Andy. 

Andy, I guess we bought the bin because we didn't want to attract mice to the compost heap if we put ktichen vegetable waste on it.  Though thinking about it, if the mice are nibbling the cauliflower stalks on the compost heap then they're not trying to get into the house, are they [;-)]  Might give it a try - it certainly appeals more than lifting that lid again!

For Sale: slightly used compost bin [:D]

Lynda

 

[Jeanneclaire]

Hi Lynda,

I believe I read in one of the gardening magazines that this happens if the compost is too moist, I know we have these dreadful little fruit flies, and my small refuse bin is certainly wet, as I put the coffee grounds and tea leaves in there each day.  I get my oh to transfer the contents to the compost bin each night, then bleach it overnight, and start all over again in the morning.  Well that is the theory anyway.

jeanneclaire 

[Jeanneclaire]

Hi {again} Lynda,

I posted a reply yesterday about the flies in your compost bin.  Today because I have a rotten cold, and feeling sorry for myself, I am sat at the computer, instead of being out in the garden on such a beautiful day.  I am reading the questions on the Clinic forum on bbc.co.uk/gardening, and there are some questions just like yours and the answers are totally opposite to what I read in the gardening magazine, apparantly if your compost is too dry, then this will attract the fruit flies.

jeanneclaire 

[Innocents Abroad]

Hi Jeanneclaire

Really sorry to hear about your cold - we've both had one recently too (typically, brought it back from UK after a recent visit for a wedding).  Hope you're feeling a bit better today and maybe can get out in to the garden.  Many thanks for your posts - mm, tis a bit confusing isn't it [blink].  Our compost does tend to be on the wet side I guess as the general act of the food rotting down creates 'moisture' [+o(], and I would have thought a moist climate was a more attractive option to the dear little flies.

Anyway, true to my word, we are now putting the kitchen waste onto the grass compost pile and then forking a bit of grass over the top.  Early days but it seems to be working quite well - and is SOOO much better than having to lift that lid!

Additionally, our attention is now diverted to trying to catch and re-home a small family of mice, who have decided that they like living with us.  (Don't think it's anything to do with the compost heap!!)

What was it that came after plague and pestilence ... [:-))]

Lynda