I get soldier flies in my compost piles and my worm bin, too :)

Had 'em in all my piles off and on for several years now and can't see
they hurt anything at all. If anything, they help...especially if the
bin or compost pile is too wet from either rain or too high a
percentage of kitchen scraps high in water content.

http://www.happydranch.com/8.html

John


"paghat" wrote in message
news
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