How do I stop the mass of flies on my compost bin?
Question:How do I stop the mass of flies on my compost bin? It's quite a distance from the house but the flies are a nightmare! It's really unpleasant to use the bin at the moment, but I don't want to get rid of it. Help!
Answers:
If you are adding food scraps, that is what is attracting the flies. You should always bury the food scraps about 6-12 under grass clipping, leaves, or sawdust.
cover it in plastic maybe that'll help
Flies live on meat scraps. If you are using kitchen leftovers on your compost pile, make sure that no meat, egg or other proteins are recycled. These bits of food also attract rats and other vermin.
Another nice, green solution is growing aromatic herbs around the compost pile. Flies don't like herbs from the mint family. Caution: the plants are all invasive and may attract bees and butterflies.
You should be:
1) Adding some water to the compost bin (doesn't need to be alot)
2) Turning the matter over on a regular basis so that it decomposes quicker
3) Add only organic matter ie kitchen vegetable scraps, paper, cardboard & the like
4) Add some blood & bone (prepared mix)
5) Add some fresh grass clippings
You must not add any meat to the compost bin as it will not add to the goodness of the compost but only attract vermin.
By turning it over on a regular basis this will help to keep it 'clean'.
Use the compost on your garden on a regular basis so that it doesn't go slimey.
Keep the lid firmly on in any case.
You should not have any flies as you describe in your question.
put the lid on all the time and they should not be-able to get in
The flies are most likely only fruit flies - not harmless but not nice to see either so I suggest you make sure you wrap your veg scrap in newspaper this will help to keep the flies down and the paper will kelp stop the slime that forms with lots of Mowed grass cuttings too.
You are bound to get a few flies at first, but the sooner the contents break down, the better, as the flies are not attracted to compost, so : -
Keep the compost bin lid on tight.
Avoid putting meat scraps or anything fatty into the compost.
Cover food scraps (fruit and veg) with leaves or grass cuttings.
Add a sprinkling of Garotta compost maker to each layer of compost - this helps the contents of the bin to rot down more quickly, lose any smell and become less attractive to flies.
Give the compost a light watering once a week - this also helps with the rotting down process.
Stand a couple of pots of tagetes (marigold family) on or next to the bin - flies don't like the smell of this particular flower.
Hopes this helps.
The very simple and obvious answer is get an aerosol of fly spray and use it now and again this will kill any thing that flies, except birds and airplanes. Put a lid on the bin after spraying.
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