Compost Discussion Thread (Merged Threads)

Johnny_G

Did you stop to think what these creepy crawlies are eating???
Why kill them when they are speeding up the composting process.

VLT

hi, i agree with Johnny G, i have allsorts of creepy crawlies in mine, anything i find in the garden eating my plants and veggies goes in there!
Thanks for the advice about the ants though mine is crawling with them, keep asking the OH to give it a stir but he's too scared. Don't think he's made for this "good life" lark!

Sarahsaver

AFAIK the BIG fat slugs are not the ones which will ruin your plants. The little ones are veggies and the big fat ones are meat eaters, so I am told.

System

the big fat ones are meat eaters , but we don't leave meat on our lawn !

Farway

No need to worrry about slugs, ants, creepy crawlies or whatever in your compost, perfectly natural and all are helping to turn the veg waste into compost, sometimes via slug poo for instance

The only thing you need to worry about is rats, but this is on health grounds & not compost making

All slugs, big & small are vegie, none eat meat FWIW. The large ones prefer dead / decaying material which is why they are in the bin, same way as you would be in a pub with free beeer & grub :rotfl:

As the compost heats up any slug eggs etc should be destroyed so need to worry on that score either

Sarahsaver

islandman wrote: »

the big fat ones are meat eaters , but we don't leave meat on our lawn !

:rotfl:

as in they will eat the smaller ones.

katskorner

I put slugs into my heap rather than kill them if I am in a merciful mood. They work for me then!

morganb

We have been saving peelings, newspapers etc to put on our compost but for the last week or so our house has been inundated with little tiny black flies which have now disappeared since we have stopped saving things for compost. I am reluctant not to compost; however,I am even more reluctant to hand my house over to the flies.

Any advice please? We had previously been saving compost in a bin in the kitchen and emptying it into the main compost bin in the garden every evening; the main compost bin is also riddled with flies.

What can we do??

Zazen999

You will get flies, to be sure. Does the bin in the kitchen have a lid? If you can keep it lidded it usually keeps the flies away. We have the odd few, even though ours is lidded and i usually peel into a newspaper and put it straight into the outside bin, but nothing worth getting worried about. Last summer we used just an old bowl, and emptied it ever day or so and hardly any problems at all. We don't eat meat here though, not sure if you are saving anything like that at all.

morganb

Yes, we were saving meat and wrapping in a newspaper ... and the bin did have a tight-fitting lid ... think we'll give composting a miss until the flies die off ...