Are White Bugs Good or Bad?

[wolfie]

I have a gazillion little white bugs, not sure if they are spiders or what the heck they are but when I went to turn my pile today, there was millions and millions of them!!!!

[cynthia_h]

They're *probably* OK, but the description "little white bugs" isn't too easy to track down, if ya know what I mean.

There tend not to be many (if any) white spiders. Spider coloration is much more camouflage-y so that they're hard to see against branches, leaves, plants, etc.

Can you take a picture? Give us more detail?

Either would be useful.

Happy gardening.

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[wolfie]

Thanks, cannot get a picture its too much contrast and they are super fast. A better description hmmmm they are very tiny, like the size of a pin head. White in color. Look like spiders with what looks to be many legs perhaps? when I turn the pile, there are literally thousands of them and as soon as I uncover them they all scurry. They are on the compost as well as the sides of the bin.

does that help?

[cynthia_h]

Your additional information allows me to suggest that these critters may be beetle mites or mold mites, both of which are commonly found in compost piles which are cool to warm. They cannot thrive under hot-compost conditions. Body size is approx. 0.2 to 0.3 mm, described as "pinhead or smaller" in one Internet source, and they are both Acarinae (in other words, somewhat related to one another).

If you can possibly find a copy of the excellent, hand-drawn illustration "Food Web of the Compost Pile," 1972, by Prof. Daniel Dindal, do so. It's in the book Backyard Composting (1992), but that book gives credit to "The Ecology of Compost," by Prof. Dindal himself. No date provided, unfortunately.

Using Prof. Dindal's illustration and the Internet, I found TONS of information. Possibly the best single source is at:

https://www.nyccompost.org/resources/MasterComposterManual07.pdf

where the discussion of invertebrate contributions in managed compost piles begins on page 32. Arthropods specifically are on p. 34.

This Master Composter Manual is 141 pages long, according to my version of Adobe Acrobat. I have *not* chosen to print it out; not tonight, anyway!

If these critters are truly beetle/mold mites, they will become food for larger critters soon.

Cynthia

[wolfie]

Thanks for all the research! Is there anything I can do to make my pile more hot? thanks!

[cynthia_h]

Take a look at the New York Master Composter's Manual. In those 141 pages, I'm sure there's a lot more East-Coast-useful advice than I could give!

But the usual advice also applies:

--Make sure you have a good ratio of greens and browns (not the volume ratio; the elemental ratio)

--Make sure the pile is sufficiently moist

--Make sure the pile has air to feed all of its microbes, bugs, etc.

Have fun!

Cynthia

[wolfie]

Will look thru that booklet in my spare time lol right now am at work!
I think it may be too wet right now, as we have had raid for the past 4 days. It has air holes all around and I need to add more browns so will work on that too... thanks!

[opabinia51]

Try planting some high nectar producing flowers around your pile that will attract predatory insects that will eat your mites. It sounds to me like you might have spider mites.

take a look at the beneficial insects sticky in the permaculture forum.


With regard to providing your compost pile with enough air; turn it regularly. I find that a pitch fork works best. But, whatever works for you.