Comments on: Vermicomposting Battle Number One: Man Verses Fruit Fly

By: Handing Out Wriggly Pink Slips | Organic Needle

Handing Out Wriggly Pink Slips | Organic Needle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:54:46 +0000

[...] and daily worm massages are a pain in the rump and seriously time consuming. 2. Evil, evil, evil fruit flies are on their way with the summer months. 3. They are space piggies…this is NYC, [...]

By: Another Exciting Episode of How the Worm Turns: More Tricks of the Trade | Organic Needle

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:01:38 +0000

[...] here in NY…and with the warm weather came another delightful treat…the return of the fruit flies. So in addition to my husband going Rambo style with his water squirter, and my setting my lethal [...]

By: Beany

Beany — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:14:20 +0000

Also…do NOT add okara (what’s left behind of soy beans after strained into soy milk).to your worm bin. The breakdown process smells like shit. For one stressful day I thought out sewer pipes had broken.

By: Beany

Beany — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:13:09 +0000

Ooo this brings back some memories. Some really bad ones.

We gave up eating bananas because banana peels were behind the proliferation of fruit flies. I know there are the avocado fruit fly police (a branch of USDA that decides what sort of avocado can come in from Mexico)…but I guess there aren’t any banana fruit fly police?

After we moved the worms out of the way, we cleaned our bin with boiling hot water. Baby flies, lava all died away.

By: organicneedle

organicneedle — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:44:59 +0000

Well.. I have to stir it up and clear the flies because it is in my house…and I want to stay married.

I wrote Bentley, but didn’t hear back from him. I may have been an e-mail bounce victim.

By: Robyn

Robyn — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:16:41 +0000

Ohhhh, ick. Did you consult the Red Worm guy, Bentley? Sounds like the wine and soap method works. I vermicompost too and have some ffs but not like this…yet
RC

By: CindyW

CindyW — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:15:51 +0000

Kudos to you and your husband for not giving up!

We have an outdoor compost bin. As soon as I open the lid to add more scrap, swarms of fruit flies rise up like a black cloud. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

I am with Burbs, I’ve been composting for more than a year now, and I haven’t harvested anything yet. It’s probably because I don’t turn it enough or do not have enough liquid content or do not have the right proportion of brown and green. Who knows. But I am happy that after 15 months, my compost bin is still only half full.

Last year when we went away for a month, the content seemed to collapsed by 50%. I think it does much better (getter hotter) when I don’t constantly add stuff to it.

I think this just means that I need to go on trips more often

By: Burbanmom

Burbanmom — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:38:29 +0000

Yeah, the first time I saw “baby flies” in my compost bin outside I almost hurled. In fact, I don’t bother to turn it as often as I should because seeing those little buggers makes my skin crawl.

I’ve no idea how I’m ever going to be brave enough to USE this compost!!