Maggots in compost

17972 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by katliz, Aug 6, 2008

Mama Lori

Discussion Starter · Jun 17, 2004

My composting was going so well before, but this morning I went to dump in my kitchen scraps, and saw that the whole center of the pile is infested with BIG maggots. Ew ew ew. I am so grossed out. I immediately covered the whole pile with dry wood chips becauses I didn't know what else to do. WHAT DO I DO??? Do I have to kill them with poison and sacrafice my compost pile? Is there any hope of saving it??? Please help before I puke!!!

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Kleine Hexe

· #2 · Jun 17, 2004

I have maggots in my worm composter and I was told that they are no problem. In fact they are good composters.

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farmer mama

· #3 · Jun 18, 2004

Don't poison your compost! Maggots are not going to hurt your compost, but they may be a sign that your balance of green materials/brown materials/ soil is off. Make sure that you are adding enough (but not too much) brown stuff like straw. Also it may be too moist; it should feel like a wrung out sponge. If it is too wet or has too much green material (food, grass, fresh leaves) in relation to brown, it can become slimy and rotten smelling and attract lots of maggots. If you really can't stand them you can get some lime (this is organic) and dust your compost with it. It will deal with the maggots and you will still have good compost, but it will increase the ph of the compost.

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Mama Lori

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 18, 2004

Interesting. So they don't harm the compost? But isn't it just bad in general to have maggots in your yard?? (Beyond it being disgusting)

I do think the pile got too moist. What happened was I had a big bag of old geraniums trimmings sitting next to the bin that I hadn't added yet because I was waiting for it to sort of break down more. Well it had been a long time so I decided to just dump it in. But then I saw that the old geranium stuff was infested with ants. Yuck yuck yuck. I knew I couldn't spray any poison on them since they are now in my compost, so I poured boiling water and that seemed to kill all the ants. But it did make for a very moist environment, plus it's been very damp and humid here lately. Yuck yuck yuck, those maggots are the size of caterpillars, it is an image I will not soon forget. I'll get some lime. They really do freak me out. I would love if I had earthworms in there, but maggots???

uke

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armonia

· #5 · Jun 19, 2004

Maggots don't bother me. I mean, I don't touch them or anything and they are really gross, but when they get in my compost I don't worry about it. They are natural little composters. Shovel some dirt/compost over them if they bother you.

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Mama Lori

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 20, 2004

But...don't they turn into flies? And then you have a lot of flies around your compost/garden/house?

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TigerTail

· #7 · Jun 20, 2004

i'm guessing caterpillar-sized maggots do not turn into your run-of-the-mill houseflies.

more brown stuff, i agree. i need to throw some straw in mine with all the rabbit shit that's going in (6 bunnies definately eat a lot more than 2! good use for weeds i am afraid to compost though!)

suse

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Mama Lori

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 20, 2004

: Forgive my density, but...so what do they turn into then?? Gigantic flies??

I do have nightmares that I'll look in my backyard and there are giant Clifford-the-big-red-dog-sized maggots roaming around.

Basically I have piled a huge amount of wood chips on top, and when it's time to dump my kitchen scraps I dig a hole in the wood chips and bury them in there. I'm scared to turn the pile and see more maggots! I gotta get some lime - will that kill them? Oooh they scare me.

Gardening is such an adventure!

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georgia

· #9 · Jun 21, 2004

I'll trade you maggots for ants! I can't seem to rid my composter of ants

Ugh. I'll admit though that maggots would have freaked me out, too. This has been the first compost pile I've actually tended to, rather than just letting it sit all year. It IS an adventure

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farmer mama

· #10 · Jun 21, 2004

Yeah, the lime should kill maggots; just dust them, and in the future watch the moisture content by adding the brown materials and if it is really rainy, cover your pile with a tarp. Also it would be a good idea to make sure not to put animal products (dairy, fats) in the compost for them to munch.
Georgia- Now get this...ants usually mean your pit is too dry! If so put more green in there and hose it down every so often so it is like a moist, wrung out sponge. Like maggots, ants shouldn't harm the pile but indicate that the balance may be off, if it was really cookin' it would be too hot for the ants.

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maddysmama

· #11 · Jun 21, 2004

Sometimes I see grubs in our compost. They kind of look like maggots, but are catterpillar-sized. Is that OK? Sorry if I'm hijacking the post. We also have ants and lizards in there, but we live in AZ, so it's a lot of work to keep it moist, even in a bin.

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Mama Lori

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 21, 2004

Heck, maybe what I saw were grubs, not maggots. I don't know. Just disgusting white things. What are grubs anyway?

(Edited to try to make more sense.)

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maddysmama

· #13 · Jun 21, 2004

I'm not sure exactly what they are...but I think they can be bad to have around sometimes. For example, in your soil when you're trying to grow certain things. Not much help, I know. I just know that they're big, thick, white wormey-looking things. I thought they'd be ok in the compost, though. You know, help to break it down and stuff.

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katliz

· #14 · Aug 6, 2008

This is an old thread, but I thought I'd post these links in case anyone else searches on this subject the way I did:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../HOEIV3JNR.DTL

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...113220154.html

There are additional links within both of these. Our compost bin is in the same situation, and I was pretty happy to find out that this is a good thing.

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