Composting Smells and Flies

[Sharmore]

Hi all,

Not sure i am posting in the right forum but i'm sure one of you will let me know if i am wrong

I started composting a few backs and have been religiously adding everything i possibly can. I noticed the flies getting worse each week but thought nothing of it as i figured this was part of the composting process.

Today i went to add more stuff but can barely get near it for little brown/orange looking flies. I'm not squeamish but trying to open the lid with them flying out at me if certainly off putting. They are all over the outside too.

Is this normal? Is there anything i can add to help with the smell and deter the little bllighters?

Any replies will be much appreciated

Thanks

ShazM

[Cheryl]

Hi Shaz

What are you putting into your compost bin? Are you adding a variety of "stuff"? Don't use too much grass cuttings, or if you do make sure you mix it with more woody stuff or kitchen waste.

Flies and midges are normally attracted to rotting fruit and vegetables; you can deal with them by adding a layer of soil - or what I normally do is add the contents of my shredder that way the flies can't get straight to the rotting stuff.

As for the smell, are you aerateing your bin? You can get a tool for this but I just use a big stick

Good luck and stick with it

[nightshade]

It really is worthwhile to compost,stick to the rules, i.e. no cooked foods
and keep it covered and you should be fine

[djackso]

They may be fruit flies - they do swarm and appear menacing in high numbers - but they are harmless, if it's them.

[dragonfly]

hya keep well coverd we use old carpets or if container keeplid on if it smell its to freshto use it must not smell at all to use what use compost now you can use in about sixmonths

[m1.carson]

Hi,

We kept a "for composting box" outside our kitchen door, fruit and veg went in it, yep, hundreds of little black flies, probably fruit flies, we've moved it..

Max.

[Sharmore]

Thanks very much for your replies guys - very helpful indeed.

I think these must be fruit flies right enough - i had no idea we even got fruit flies int he uk, so i have learned something new today.

I must have the wrong mix and need some more brown material in the bin i will get on this today as i have lots and lots of junk mail that needs shredded.

As for airing i haven't done this as yet - the main reason the flies so will do this at some point today or this week.

Need to go and buy a bag of soil so i can stick a layer over too.

Thank you again for your replies it has made me realise i must be doing something wrong.


ShazM

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Sharmore

Thanks very much for your replies guys - very helpful indeed.

I think these must be fruit flies right enough - i had no idea we even got fruit flies int he uk, so i have learned something new today.

I must have the wrong mix and need some more brown material in the bin i will get on this today as i have lots and lots of junk mail that needs shredded.

As for airing i haven't done this as yet - the main reason the flies so will do this at some point today or this week.

Need to go and buy a bag of soil so i can stick a layer over too.

Thank you again for your replies it has made me realise i must be doing something wrong.


ShazM

Don't forget you also need to water it.

[Susie]

I had this problem last year. I used a spare wheelie-bin for compost and did put a lot of fruit and peelings in it and not much dry stuff. As a result every time I opened the lid there were a horrible cloud of flies. When I finally got around to emptying the bin last winter the compost was foul. A disgusting smelly wet slop.

This year I have a "proper" compost bin which is open at the bottom to allow for drainage (but it is standing on concrete to stop mice from getting in) and I am putting in more torn paper, cardboard and shrubby clippings from the garden. I am pleased to say that I have already had some compost from it and it is lovely stuff - and no horrible cloud of flies.

Good luck with your compost. It is a great feeling when it works out properly.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Sharmore

Hi all,

Not sure i am posting in the right forum but i'm sure one of you will let me know if i am wrong

I started composting a few backs and have been religiously adding everything i possibly can. I noticed the flies getting worse each week but thought nothing of it as i figured this was part of the composting process.

Today i went to add more stuff but can barely get near it for little brown/orange looking flies. I'm not squeamish but trying to open the lid with them flying out at me if certainly off putting. They are all over the outside too.

Is this normal? Is there anything i can add to help with the smell and deter the little bllighters?

Any replies will be much appreciated

Thanks

ShazM

ShazM this is a typical problem with closed bin systems. There is nothing unnatural going on and in some resects the nutrient value of the final product of these 'wet' systems are higher. However as you've found it is pretty unpalatable.

The 'brown flies' are fuit flies and their larvae are a useful part of the decomposition process however by manging your system differently you shoud be able to reduce their numbers. As a 'quick fix' to your current problem add garden lime at a rateof two or three hand fulls once per week for a month or two which will change the chemistry and reduce the smells. For longer term management please see: Composting 101

CM

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Don't forget you also need to water it.

From Sharmore's description - the bad smell - her system is already overly wet, which allows the decomposition processes to be dominated by anaerobic bacteria. Wet heaps produce higher nitrogen values but the smells are unavoidable and not really useful in a domestic setting.

This a very common problem with the plastic 'daleks', and especially the converted wheelie bins the some Council's provide as composters. Adding water to these is almost always, unwise.

CM

[Kayleigh]

Yes, I thought the compost bin was open bottomed like the one's I use.
Mine are on soil and lots of worms come up through the bottom they do all the work..
There is something wrong if it smells.
I also put shredded paper in mine.

[Sharmore]

I Love this website - so informative.

Water or not to water?? I did wonder whether i should be adding some water but it is the open bottomed dalek style composter and thought the reason for this was to alow excess water to drain!!!

Didn't think to use the wheelie bin composter the council privide as it doesn't let any air in - i can now use it as a back up.

I think my compost is too wet and i defo need brown material and a layer of soil to help combat the amount of flies. Wont take me long to sort it i dont think.

So a bag of soil and some garden lime sounds like the solution so that is what i will do.

Once again thank you, thank you for all your replies so helpful.



ShazM

[Shearno]

I went to Star Bucks, asked what they did with the spent coffee grounds and now collect a bag a week, I add a few handfuls every time I add kitchen waste and it smells great apparently it is also good as mulch for roses.

Also I compost a big bag of fruit waste everyday which my wife brings home from her year 2 primary school class where she works, so I have to add a lot of browns, straw from pet Rabbit and shredded dry leaves etc.

Composting can become quite an obsession, I end up looking at and growing plants for there composting potential and even mowed a neighbours lawn when I needed some more greens for a pile I was building

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by Shearno

I went to Star Bucks, asked what they did with the spent coffee grounds and now collect a bag a week, I add a few handfuls every time I add kitchen waste and it smells great apparently it is also good as mulch for roses.

Also I compost a big bag of fruit waste everyday which my wife brings home from her year 2 primary school class where she works, so I have to add a lot of browns, straw from pet Rabbit and shredded dry leaves etc.

Composting can become quite an obsession, I end up looking at and growing plants for there composting potential and even mowed a neighbours lawn when I needed some more greens for a pile I was building

Have you tried Comfrey, it is such a good grower and the stuf composts well. Not quite compost, but we threw armfuls to the hens each day, when we had to move we took down the hen run and planted courgettes. We went away for 2 weeks to find a house in the new place we were going to, before we went I removed every little marrow that was on the plants, when we got back there were 3 wheelbarrow loads of very nice courgettes!

[Susie]

Does creeping comfrey have the same value for compost as other comfrey?

[Shearno]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Have you tried Comfrey, it is such a good grower and the stuf composts well. Not quite compost, but we threw armfuls to the hens each day, when we had to move we took down the hen run and planted courgettes. We went away for 2 weeks to find a house in the new place we were going to, before we went I removed every little marrow that was on the plants, when we got back there were 3 wheelbarrow loads of very nice courgettes!

Yes, I grow a patch, use the leaves to make a compost tea liquid feed (very smelly) and also add to the heap as a good natural activator.

Originally Posted by Susie

Does creeping comfrey have the same value for compost as other comfrey?

not sure about that, but the one to grow is Bocking 14. which has been specially developed from trials for composting as the most valuable variety, Bocking 14 is High in nutrients and sterile (you don’t want comfrey popping up all over the place) and is exclusively propagated from root cuttings.

Shearno

[Paul mabbott]

If you've got coffee grounds on that scale, you might want to remember that it's supposed to be a good slug repellent/deterrent so well worth trying around some of your more sensitive plants.

Originally Posted by Shearno

I went to Star Bucks, asked what they did with the spent coffee grounds and now collect a bag a week, I add a few handfuls every time I add kitchen waste and it smells great apparently it is also good as mulch for roses.

[Shearno]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

If you've got coffee grounds on that scale, you might want to remember that it's supposed to be a good slug repellent/deterrent so well worth trying around some of your more sensitive plants.

Thanks Paul, yet another use, I will try that as I have loads to use up.

Shearno

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Susie

Does creeping comfrey have the same value for compost as other comfrey?

There's some common confusion about nutrient values in plants/compost. The reputation of comfrey is a good example.

The figures for comfrey come from work done fifty years ago by LD Hills following up on earlier work by Henry Doubleday. Comfrey does seem useful HOWEVER - the values as 'manure' come from creating a 'comfrey tea', NOT from composting.

Composting is a complex biochemical process and unless very strict controls are placed on the process there's almost no way to produce a definitive 'fertiliser'. Comfrey may be a useful addition to a compost heap/bin but it is unlikey to increase the nutrient yield of the heap/bin significantly and certainly will not match the nutrient yields quoted for 'comfrey tea' see: Growing and Using Comfrey for Gardeners including Comfrey Liquid Fertiliser or Tea

On balance comfrey probably is not more potent than any other 'green fertiliser' and its usefulness very much depends on the type of garden involved - certainly brewing up a batch of 'stinking comfrey tea' is not likely to endear one to one's neighbours. If it is simply a question of creating biomass as compost ingredient, any perennial would do - either ornamental or food plant and there is no need to give over garden space to the 'magic' comfrey.

CM

[Susie]

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. That is good to know.