Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Scary Business

A woman just called our office because she was terrified of small white things crawling on her compost.
She sprayed her bin down with bleach, and then called me (she had taken a workshop) to say she wanted to get rid of her bin.
What would you tell her to do? How would you approach this situation.

Tell us by leaving a comment. Next week I will tell you what I told her.
-m-

3 comments:

  1. Here is a hint for you - it turns out the bugs were on the OUTSIDE of the bin.
    -m-

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have never had that experience, however, I can see how it might be unnerving. Since all sorts of "bugs" are part of the composting community, I would probably not abandon the composting activity altogether. Washing them off is a good start, and then being a detective to find out what they might be would be next. Most composting critters are quite small, so if these were visible--they could be fly larvae, or springtails (if they jump a lot). Anyone else have any ideas? In any case, they would not do any harm to the composting process nor the product. Another question would be: are the fruit materials covered by leaves or a little soil to prevent flies from laying their eggs there?

    Karen LC

    ReplyDelete
  3. I told her that I thought the bugs were aphids falling from a tree above. Sometimes we have to look well beyond the issue to find our solutions.

    After we spoke she decided to keep composting and set aside the chemical warfare, for now.

    ReplyDelete