Bugs in my compost - freinds or foe?

[eskymo]

Today I have mostly been sorting out my compost bin. I lifted it off the ground [it's one of those conical plastic bins free from the council] to reveal the compost and then reloacted the bin and started adding the fresh stuff from the top of the heap that has only recently gone on.

I mostly put in kitchen scraps [veg cuttings, coffee ground, teabags, eggshells etc] and garden waste [dead weeds, leaves, the odd small twigs] and paper [the occasional shredded newspaper] and card. I've been adding to this heap for over a year and the left it to rot down for the past 6months.

I'm quite please with the amount of good compost at the bottom of it [but should be able to do better this year as I'm more organised] but I'm worried that it is riddled with bugs - I'm not sure if these are good bugs or bad bugs.

I've attached three images - one is an extreme closeup of these small white bugs, another is close up of a larger bug which is possibly what the small white bugs grow into and the third is a pic of a woodlouse to show you the scale of the small white bugs - they are tiny and from a distant look like ash or dust. There are millions of them.

Is this compost useable? Should I bin the lot and start again?

Please help as I would like to know what to do with it. I couldn't possibly remove all the small white bugs as they're tiny and there's too many of them, but surely I couldn't use this stuff to pot up plants or put on the veg plot as wouldn't the little blighters devour my crops?

confused...

[Lesley Jay]

Eskymo I have got tiny white flies in one of our compost bins - they are like white ash. Geordie reckons they are fruit flies and quite harmless. He says to cover the compost with an inch of soil which will kill them off and wash off any that are on the sides and the lid of the bin. I havenot done it yet - next job when I go to the allotment.

[eskymo]

the compost is riddled with them though, they're not just sitting on the surface. I think I will leave the heap uncovered tonight and leave the lid off the bin as well and maybe the last of the frost will kill them off.

I don't like the idea of using this stuff on my plants as there are so many of the bugs. Maybe I need to get one of those blow torches and burn the blighters???

[andrewo]

Leave the bin off your compost for a few nights, turn it and repeat, this should kill them off with the frost.

[andrewo]

Funnily enough the pics look like aphids and the bugs are earwigs.

[eskymo]

is that a good thing?

[nick the grief]

Hi Eskymo,

The little white jobs are spring tails. Have a look here

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...pringtails.asp

[Bugeyes]

I could be wrong but the middle picture you posted looks very like the larva of a beetle called Atheta coriaria which preys on sciarid larvae amongst other things. Biocontrol companies sell it as a predator so don't kill it - it should be useful!

[eskymo]

hey,

thanks for all the info - I left the compost uncovered for the past few days, but we've had no frost, just rain and cold winds. I've been ill with a throat infection and so not been out to the garden at all. May make it out this w/e if we don't get the snow as forecast for the w/e. Otherwise I'll have a look next week.

How do you suggest I use the pure compost? Options:

Should I mix it with soil?
Should I mix it with my vermicompost?
Should I mix it with coir?

I don't know what's the best thing to do with it as it's the first time I've actually got quite a lot of homemade compost that looks good, despite the bug infestation. I doubt I can put it neat on plants or use it as potting compost for seeds.

[sandersj89]

The middle picture looks very much like a wire worm but I have never seen them in compost heaps. These are the larvae of click beetle and are normally find in grass land or ground that has not been worked for a while.

They are not good news for spuds but are not much of a problem for other crops and they do no like ground that is being worked and will move away with time.


The end picture is wood lice and these feed of decaying matter and are not a problem unless they are in large numbers.

I use most of my home made compost as a soil conditioner or in large pots which I use to grow very early spuds in the greenhouse. I normally cut it with leaf mould if I am using it for seed sowing to reduce it's richness.

HTH

Jerry

[Jaxom]

Here is info pages on wireworms. http://www.syngenta.ca/en/guides/ins..._prairie_grain
Hope the information helps?
Jax