Posts: 80
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Joined: Jul 2007
When we bought our house back in September, it came with an Earth Machine plastic compost bin already set up. There wasn't much in there yet, but I immediately began throwing in our waste fruits, veggies, egg shells, rice, etc. Having very little knowledge about composting I never bothered to churn it or add any soil, leaves, or grass. Recently fruit flies have been pretty heavy in there. I have also noticed what appears to be mold. I bought a shovel so I could add some dirt and churn it some so that the discarded items I put in there would be somewhat buried. I noticed a lot of bugs. It appeared to be earwig-looking things and some kind of potato bug/beetle. So does it all sound ok or have I "burned the cookies"? Maybe add some dos/don'ts for us inexperienced composters. The only one I know for sure is to never add meats/fats/bones. Mahalo.
Posts: 80
Threads: 22
Joined: Jul 2007
quote:
Originally posted by Damon
quote:
Originally posted by Adam79
Having very little knowledge about composting I never bothered to churn it or add any soil, leaves, or grass. Recently fruit flies have been pretty heavy in there. I have also noticed what appears to be mold....
*Burp* [
]
Sorry, let me clarify. There was soil in there already, but I never added any to cover what I put in. I never put grass because, well I have no grass. Just some weeds and fallen Ohia leaves.
Posts: 496
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Joined: Jan 2008
When the fruit flies get to be too much in our compost bin, we add a layer of torn up newspaper. They seem to disappear. Just keep adding more kitchen scraps on top of the paper (or leaves, etc) and when the bin is full of these layers, let it sit a bit, then turn with the shovel to mix it up. Alternate the sitting and mixing steps until you've got dirt!
I find it's good to have two bins so that you can keep adding all the goodies to one while the other is 'cooking'. We use those big Rubbermaid storage bins, with lots of holes drilled into the bottom and a row around the top of the sides for ventilation and to allow earthworms to come and go - which they do all by themselves. :-)
Happy composting!
aloha, Liz
"The best things in life aren't things."
