Maggots in my compost. Leave em?

[ndorfinmachine]

I know there is already a thread about maggots in compost, but I have a few questions. I wasn't purposely trying to attract them to my pile, but they sure found it. All I have in my bin are grass clippings, oak leaves, food scraps(no meats or grease), newspaper and various other paper products. I read the article that was posted about them being beneficial, but just want to make sure that its safe....cause I plan on eating the Veggies I grow with this compost. I guess because of their diet, my mind jumps straight to "Disease." So I guess what I'm asking is: Are they actually clean, despite the fact that they love to eat the dead and....poo?

[cynthia_h]

According to the article, their compost is fine for use in food gardens.

The author fed the fattened creatures to her chickens and other birds, and put the compost into her veggie garden.

It works on the same principle as worm castings: the castings started off as food scraps and came out as worm--ah--"castings." We put them in our food gardens, and usually don't give it a second thought.

So I'd say not to worry.

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[american_gardener]

I know there is already a thread about maggots in compost, but I have a few questions. I wasn't purposely trying to attract them to my pile, but they sure found it. All I have in my bin are grass clippings, oak leaves, food scraps(no meats or grease), newspaper and various other paper products. I read the article that was posted about them being beneficial, but just want to make sure that its safe....cause I plan on eating the Veggies I grow with this compost. I guess because of their diet, my mind jumps straight to "Disease." So I guess what I'm asking is: Are they actually clean, despite the fact that they love to eat the dead and....poo?

Leave em!! As opposed to whatever you had in mind to do with em.

However Maggots are not typical in a good compost pile. What you're doing is obviously wrong... if ya were doing it right you'd have no maggots at all. So, you'll need to fix that. Right now you're just making a big pile of rotting garbage as opposed to a compost pile. I can see already that you're not "heating" your pile up properly... if you're doing it right maggots would not survive the temps.

So, perhaps we'll have to fix what you're doing wrong. You don't have enough nitrogen in there for one.

The essential elements required by the composting microorganisms are carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and moisture. If any of these elements are lacking, or if they are not provided in the proper proportion, the microorganisms will not flourish and will not provide adequate heat. A composting process that operates at optimum performance will convert organic matter into stable compost that is odor and pathogen free, and a poor breeding substrate for flies and other insects.

In a good compost pile you should have a mix of carbon and nitrogen sources. The microbes in compost use carbon for energy and nitrogen for protein synthesis. Ideally the ratio of C/N is 30 to 1.. 30 parts carbon for 1 part nitrogen (measured on a dry weight basis). This ratio governs the speed at which the microbes decompose organic waste.

Most organic materials do not have this ratio and, to accelerate the composting process, it will be necessary to balance the numbers.

It'd take a while to walk ya thru it all right now... but just from a quick look at your "ingredients" you listed... the newspapers, leaves, paper products and food wastes would all be high carbon sources. Your grass clippings are the only real nitrogen source I see in there. It's ratio is bout 15:1

To make it simple for now without going into further explantion.. get yourself some more nitrogen sources such as chicken manure.. alfalfa hay, coffee grounds or horse manure. Then we can fix your pile.

Dave

[cynthia_h]

Actually, Dave, ndorfin's food scraps are also sources of nitrogen. It may be that the pile got a little wet and the Black Soldier Flies found it to lay their eggs in.

Once the BSF larvae mature, they'll probably fly away (unless ndorfin has friends with birds...).

I find these larvae every now and then when I turn my BioStack compost. They don't seem to take over or even multiply very much, so I'm not worried about them.

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[ndorfinmachine]

Thanks guys. I thought for sure it was getting hot. Yesterday it was clouding up and about to rain. Just a slight mist in the air. When I turned the pile with a pitchfork, I could actually see steam arising from the center. I can actually feel the heat on my legs. But those things are all in there. I don't know. There is no real foul odor or anything. I will for sure be looking into coffee grounds though. This is the first pile I've tried in a bin. I had better luck with an old garbage can with holes drilled in it. It's fun learning though.

EDIT: After reading through all the threads in this forum, I think I have found the cause of my problem. I used waaaaay too much grass clippings. Cause it really is clumped up in there. When using grass clippings, should I just start with a little and just add small layers as I build it? Cause with this batch, I filled the sucker full of grass and weed clippngs and then started adding browns and food scraps. I really want to get this right, cause I am trying hard to break myself from using commercial fertilizers. Bare with me. It's a challenge going green. lol

[smokensqueal]

ndorfin, as long as you combine them it doesn't matter to much but if you want the most optimal way then yes you want to make small layers of greens then browns and not just pile up all your grass at once. I don't make an exact science of it I throw in my grass clippings when I have them and my browns when I have them. This past spring I lucked out and still had some bags of leaves left so I was able to layer but later this summer I ran out of leaves and just piled grass in and on occasions I would take the time to shred up some paper and toss it in.

As far as your pile being hot I'm sure the middle it hot but the closer you get to the outside the cooler it will be. This bugs are probably not right in the middle but on the outer side where it's just warm enough for them. My experience, which isn't a lot, is that you will have different types of bug depending on what you throw in your pile and how wet and dry and how cold or hot. You've might of thrown something in your pile they really liked but after it's gone they may be gone too.

[ndorfinmachine]

Thanks for the reply smokensqueal. Does anyone have any experience with composting oak leaves? I live on 10 acres of property, and the fence around the place is lined with just about nothing but Oaks. There is still tons of brown leaves from last year, and I'm sure, years past. My only problem would be collecting them because of all the small sticks and limbs mixed in with them from storms we have had. I tried raking a small section yesterday and got tons of small sticks. More than I would like to hand pick out of them.

[smokensqueal]

I'm still learning my different leaves and trees but I believe last year I got mostly oak leaves (came from my sisters house since my trees aren't so big) The first few bags I put in I left the leaves whole. I found out later that they take a long time to break down. So I got me a leave blower/vacuum and shredded the rest. That helped a lot. When this past spring came around and I started adding grass the pile got good and hot and broke down the leaves nicely. On occasion I still find the leaves in my pile. This year I plan on getting more (from my mom's house) and shredding those and using those as a mulch for my flower beds and a cover for my veggie garden and will till them in next year before planing.

I did read somewhere and it might be on this forum that there are a few that you want to stay a way from. I can't remember them all but I think black walnut was one of them. If I find more information I'll post it.