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31-08-2004, 01:26 AM

In article ,
(CajunUSA) wrote:

Hi! I have a compost heap that I keep in a tin garbage can. I don't
put meat or dairy products in it, just stuff like banana peels,
spoiled vegitables, bread crumbs, etc.

However, about a week ago, I noticed that the top of the compost heap
had _congealed_ into the consistency of very wet mud (even though it
hadn't rained in many days), and crawling around in this muck were
what appeared to be thousands of maggots. But, unlike most maggots
I've seen, these were huge . . . some being perhaps the width of a
pencil, but not as round, and about an inch long.

So, I'm wondering, what are these things? Regardless, should I just
leave them alone because, as disgusting as they look, they're
nonethelss making compost out of my garbage? Or should I kill them,
and, if so, how? Is there some organic solution I can put in the
compost, like vinegar or salt or whatever to get rid of them?

Yuck.

SKB

Big honkin' soldier fly maggots, or "spikes," sometimes used as live bait
for fishing, otherwise kind of nasty to ponder. They have naturalized in
the Pacific Northwest & probably elsewhere, originally from Europe.

They're not necessarily doing any harm; they help break down the compost &
innoculate the compost with beneficial microorganisms. But they're still
nasty seeming, & they tend to go after nasty damp soggy rotten parts of
compost that wouldn't exist if the compost was properly stirred & aerated
so that it maintainted a good hot temperature.

Soldier fly maggots don't usually go for a well-mixed pile of "greens" &
"browns" or anything even close to a wholesome compost. But they do help
make an unwholesome compost wholesome in the longrun, with no adverse
effect (when the spikes mature into flies they are hardly ever seen, as
they don't swarm). If you do nothing about them there'll be no harm done.
Soldier flies do no harm & much good to a compost pile or worm bin; do not
harm plants; do not harm people; don't even harm worms if they get in a
worm bin. But they tend to be attracted to the nastiest rather than the
healthiest compost piles, so piles with soldier flies usually smell bad
(not because of the soldier flies; they just were attracted to it); & of
course they're kind of creepy & not even pet salamanders like to eat them
because they're too leathery & apparently taste as nasty as the stuff they
live in. So personally I'd want to fix the compost method so that it
wouldn't attract soldier flies.

They can can be kept out of compost (even a nasty rotten compost) with
nothing more than a thick layer of leaves, or an inch of plain dirt, on
top of the pile.

But a healthy properly turned & maintained compost pile should never smell
bad, & a pile that doesn't smell bad doesn't attract soldier flies.

As you're using kitchen garbage, you perhaps should set up a worm bin for
those, & turn kitchen trash into worm droppings. Not the same as compost
but very very healthy for the garden. The hope is that the worms eat up
kitchen trash faster than soldier flies can find anything rotted to lay
its maggot hordes in, but the bin can also be pretty tightly closed so
flies can't get in.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com