New member from Athens Greece
Could anyone advise if this horror image is normal at my compost container???
Thanks
Are These Worms In Compost Normal?
Hello all!
New member from Athens Greece
Could anyone advise if this horror image is normal at my compost container???
Thanks
New member from Athens Greece
Could anyone advise if this horror image is normal at my compost container???
Thanks
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30551
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
The image is blurry at close zoom, but I think these are probably Black Soldierfly (BSF) maggots.
They are normal especially if there is protein like dairy or cheese, or livestock manure among the compost ingredients.
They are good at breaking down and reducing ingredients that are not easily or as quickly digested by the microbes and earthworms — I consider them beneficial to my outdoor compost piles, bins, and vermicompost bins —and some people intentionally build BSF composting systems — typically because they either can’t get earthworms/red wigglers or because they use the maggots as FEED for chickens, fish, pet reptiles, etc. Another use I’ve seen mentioned is to build a pet waste digester with BSF as primary macro-organism along with the digestive enzymes.
BSF composting system has been shown to reduce the ingredients/garden waste more quickly, but also does not leave as much “compost” to use in the garden as organic matter. (Bulk of the nutrients are consumed by the maggots and then are removed as maggots or fly away as adults.).
So how you view BSF will depend on whether your goal is to use the maggots as feed rather than to use the resulting compost to enrich/build soil in your garden.
The smaller/reduced volume of the resulting compost can be compensated for by making aerated or non-aerated compost tea and using as liquid soil drench or even more diluted into foliar micro mist fertilizer.
They are normal especially if there is protein like dairy or cheese, or livestock manure among the compost ingredients.
They are good at breaking down and reducing ingredients that are not easily or as quickly digested by the microbes and earthworms — I consider them beneficial to my outdoor compost piles, bins, and vermicompost bins —and some people intentionally build BSF composting systems — typically because they either can’t get earthworms/red wigglers or because they use the maggots as FEED for chickens, fish, pet reptiles, etc. Another use I’ve seen mentioned is to build a pet waste digester with BSF as primary macro-organism along with the digestive enzymes.
BSF composting system has been shown to reduce the ingredients/garden waste more quickly, but also does not leave as much “compost” to use in the garden as organic matter. (Bulk of the nutrients are consumed by the maggots and then are removed as maggots or fly away as adults.).
So how you view BSF will depend on whether your goal is to use the maggots as feed rather than to use the resulting compost to enrich/build soil in your garden.
The smaller/reduced volume of the resulting compost can be compensated for by making aerated or non-aerated compost tea and using as liquid soil drench or even more diluted into foliar micro mist fertilizer.