[Evergreen]

I just got a spinning composter and this week I noticed it is full of these light brownish grubby looking worms. When I open it I can hear them eating through the compost. When I just did a pile I never noticed them but they really can not be missed now.

To be honest they are kind of grossing me out. I don't know why, I'm not one who is afraid of bugs but these ones are pretty disgusting.

So, do any garden gurus know if they are supposed to be in my composter or not?

thanks!

 

[zoooteacher]

Um, not to make things ickier, but sounds like you might be having the same problem - when we had a compost tumbler, somthing about how moist they stay or something attracted flies and we had LOTS of maggots and then fly pupa (the brown, short, wiggly things)....we ended up going back to a regular compost bin system.....I think the tumblers get wet and icky unless you're really careful since they have much less ventilation...just my 2 cents!

 

[Evergreen]

Grrrreat

I thought tumblers were supposed to be easier. It is really moist in there because it rained a few weeks ago, and it's supposed to rain again tomorrow!

I don't have maggots, and the things are bigger than flea larvae. They're about the size of grubs.

 

[mama_daba]

i have had them in my compost they never seem to harm anything just help the compost, i am someone who loves bugs and stuff but they still kinda gross me out, i have never had problems with them though
and i have had them in all types of composters, well except for the worm bin i used, i think the condition can be right for them in any type of composter, if the compost gets hot enough they might go away

 

[farmer mama]

Oh they shouldn't hurt the process, but it may be that your compost is too moist. How does it look and smell. If it is really wet and stinky, it needs some help. It should be like a well wrung sponge. The most important thing is to make sure your balance of green (clippings, food scraps) and brown (dried leaves, straw, etc) is right. I would try putting some dry straw and maybe a little soil to get the balance right. We have a tumbler in the puget sound, and we are in a super wet convergent zone, and ours works fine. It just seems to take a little more tinkering at first.

 

[Evergreen]

Yeah, I don't have nearly enough brown in there! Gotta work on that, thanks!