Are flies bad for plants??

[Patrol_4x4]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if flies do actually lay eggs on veggie plants. This question rose today in the morning when I was watering the plants with super stinky water that I keep in an old trash bin together with decomposing kitchen scraps. It obviously attracks a horde of these green flies, and I don't mind them as long as they don't decide to raise their offspring among my plants and devoure everything...

Well,thanks in advance, I am aware that sometimes I ask silly questions....

[rainbowgardener]

Sounds nasty but I don't think they should hurt your plants as long as the plants are healthy. The fly larvae eat mostly dead and decaying stuff, which is why they love your rotting garbage. It's why they use maggots to clean out wounds-- they eat they necrotic tissue and leave the healthy stuff alone.

Probably TMI !

[applestar]

It depends on the species I suppose. Some predatory/parasitic flies lay eggs on plants that their target insects or animals ingest....

I doubt that the flies are bad for the plants, but I'm not entirely certain that watering plants you intend to eat with this kind of water is necessarily a good thing for humans if you are getting it on foliage and fruits.

If you are going to do this, I recommend you look into Bokashi and EM. Anaerobically fermenting kitchen scraps is good, aerobicaly decomposing (I.e. composting) is good, but anaerobically decomposing not so much....

Here's one thread where we discussed EM and Bokashi, but I believe there are more: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21051

[Patrol_4x4]

Hey! Thanks for the comments
Actually, I have stopped doing that because it smells sooooooo bad. I have started composting my food scraps, I guess it is a better option, no smell, no fly hordes, and apparently better for my plants!