ANOTHER Maggot problem. Different batch of compost.

[ndorfinmachine]

Okay I don't get it. I was able to get a good bit of coffee grounds from our nearby Starbucks. I wanted to experiment on a smaller scale than my bin, so I used my old garbage can with holles drilled in it. I have had great results this way before. Without coffee grounds of course. This was the first time I have gotten my hands on some. Anywho, I mowed the lawn and had some good green grass clippings, raked up some brown oak leaves and added a little of both in the can. I added just a handful of grounds to the can to help speed up the process. I mixed this together really well and wet it just a bit. I added no food or anything else. I put a piece of plywood over the top of the can in case it rained. I went and checked it today. I wanted to feel for my self how coffee would heat it up. I stuck my arm down to the middle of the stuff to feel a very hot and moist mixture. <--------(don't go there..lol) I pulled a handful out to see how it looked, and it looked like it was breaking down rather well....BUT, was covered in maggots! Why? And how? THey were right there in the hottest spot. I really didn't think that grass, coffee, and oak leaves would be a breeding ground for maggots. What the heck are they eating? The coffee? As that's the only food product in there.

[Kisal]

Although we are probably more familiar with the flies that lay their eggs on dead animals, there are many species that lay their eggs in rotting vegetation. I always had maggots in my compost piles (although never huge numbers of them), even though I never put any meat in them.

[David Taylor]

My first thought is maybe its just a little too wet. Where I live, the danger is the compost drying out to quick. Maggots just don't get a chance to grow around here, especially if you give the stuff a good turn on a regular basis. If you're worried about rain, lack of humidity seems to be the least of your concerns. When you mention a piece of plywood over the top, I thought how that might keep in too much moisture. There has to be some air circulation for good hot aerobic composting. Have you thought about maybe some kind of raised tarp for rain protection, and perhaps screening directly over the top to allow air circulation and keep at least most flies out?

[LazyGirl]

I don't have any sort of good advise but I can share in your frusteration. I too have maggots in my pile, although its mostly my fault since I encouraged them once they showed up.

For what its worth I started turning the pile more (1x a week), stopped watering it (it was REALLY hot and dry out so I thought I should water it like a tree...), and started keeping it business only (real strict on the food scraps). It seems that there are less maggots, so maybe it was partly the food, and partly the excess moisture.

Mine was so wet that it smelled sulfurous towards the bottom 1/3. Does yours have any odor? Maybe that could help determine the problem.