Compost +curl grubs = AAAAGGHHH!!!
 

G'day All,

Usual story... black-bin-type compost bin; works pretty well; occasional
appearance of a curl grub. Easy fixed - just pick it out and throw it to
the magpies.

However, over the last couple of months, the curl grubs have multiplied
until now, when I use a small garden fork to turn over the compost, I
turn up 8 or 10 curl grubs - with each forkful! And they're in all
stages of development, from tiny babies to ones as big as my little
finger. There have even been quite a number of small beetles (the
adults) lurking around in and near the bin.

It's reached the stage where I've decided to chuck out all the compost
(recycle bin) and start again. Unless someone has an alternative.
(Chooks are, unfortunately, not an option.)

Today I tried half-filling a bucket with compost and covering it with
water. After a couple of hours I took out a handful of motionless curl
grubs. Bingo! I thought. They didn't move for several minutes. I put
them on a path and left them in case they were playing possum. Sure
enough, as soon as some ants started biting them, they came to life and
tried to scurry away. Maybe if I leave them in water for a couple of
days...?

Please help.

M.

Compost +curl grubs = AAAAGGHHH!!!
 

M wrote:
G'day All,

Usual story... black-bin-type compost bin; works pretty well; occasional
appearance of a curl grub. Easy fixed - just pick it out and throw it to
the magpies.

Italian neighbour claims that lime kills them. You might try adding
that. They are in plague proportions in the soil and compost this year
in SW Sydney.numerous enough to eat up all the broad bean crop as it
sprouted. So we are currently doing the lime trick to see it that clears
them off.