I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I got a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Any answers would be gratefully received.


Regards,


Gavin

In article , gavin wrote:
I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I got a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Yes and no, respectively :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article , gavin
wrote:
I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I got
a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black
ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden
waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of
smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Yes and no, respectively :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Care to enlighten me, Nick :-)

In article , gavin wrote:

I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I got
a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black
ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden
waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of
smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Yes and no, respectively :-)

Care to enlighten me, Nick :-)

Yes, it's normal. No, it does not indicate a problem with your
compost.

They are probably true flies, called by gardeners compost flies,
but could be any number of species. Ignore them. They tickle,
stick to paint, and otherwise make minor nuisances of themselves,
but so what?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article , gavin
wrote:

I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I
got
a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black
ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden
waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of
smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Yes and no, respectively :-)

Care to enlighten me, Nick :-)

Yes, it's normal. No, it does not indicate a problem with your
compost.

They are probably true flies, called by gardeners compost flies,
but could be any number of species. Ignore them. They tickle,
stick to paint, and otherwise make minor nuisances of themselves,
but so what?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Thanks very much Nick. I must be pretty thick because I read your first
response as No, it's not normal and Yes it does indicate a problem with your
compost! Good grief - get a grip, man!


Regards,




Gavin

In article , gavin wrote:

Thanks very much Nick. I must be pretty thick because I read your first
response as No, it's not normal and Yes it does indicate a problem with your
compost! Good grief - get a grip, man!

Not really. I was once a tolerable pure mathematician, and still
tend to think (and post) that way. Don't ask about the joke about
the physicist, statistician and mathematician ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 1 Sep 2004 19:24:57 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

In article , gavin wrote:

I am very new to gardening so forgive me if my question is facile. I got
a
compost bin free from my local council - it's one of those large black
ones
that looks a bit like a Dalek :-) I put my organic kitchen and garden
waste
in there. Every time I take the lid off I am greeted by a swarm of
smallish
flies (I guess they're not really "flies"). Is this normal? Would this
indicate that my compost is not well?

Yes and no, respectively :-)

Care to enlighten me, Nick :-)

Yes, it's normal. No, it does not indicate a problem with your
compost.

They are probably true flies, called by gardeners compost flies,
snip

.......also known as 'Pppffbbbllltttppfftt'

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

(Nick Maclaren) wrote in news:ch57m9$jf8$1
@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk:

They are probably true flies, called by gardeners compost flies,
but could be any number of species. Ignore them. They tickle,
stick to paint, and otherwise make minor nuisances of themselves,
but so what?


If they are annoying you, I find spreading newspaper (just one sheet thick)
on top of the compost seems to reduce the population, and the newspaper
breaks dowm quite quickly and joins the compost quickly.

(Don't put too many sheets on at a time though, or it forms a lump and
takes ages to compost. Layers interspersed with other stuff is the way to
go)

Victoria

--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

On the topic of compost, does anyone have a good suggestion as to how
to deal with a lot of grass cuttings? I'm told (& have seen) that if I
put too much grass on the compost heap I end up with a dark, soggy,
smelly mass. What is the best suggestion for diluting the grass?

Nick Maclaren wrote:
Not really. I was once a tolerable pure mathematician, and
still
tend to think (and post) that way. Don't ask about the joke
about
the physicist, statistician and mathematician ....


I used to be a physicist, enlighten me.

in return I can offer one about the Engineer, the chemist and the economist.

pk

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article , gavin
wrote:

Thanks very much Nick. I must be pretty thick because I read your
first
response as No, it's not normal and Yes it does indicate a problem
with your
compost! Good grief - get a grip, man!

Not really. I was once a tolerable pure mathematician, and still
tend to think (and post) that way. Don't ask about the joke about
the physicist, statistician and mathematician ....

Since you don't want Gavin to ask it, I will.

Franz


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Dave_R." wrote in message
...
On the topic of compost, does anyone have a good suggestion as to how
to deal with a lot of grass cuttings? I'm told (& have seen) that if I
put too much grass on the compost heap I end up with a dark, soggy,
smelly mass. What is the best suggestion for diluting the grass?

The best solution is to add plenty of other biodegradable stuff.
Kitchen waste excluding meat fish and bones which will attract foxes and
rats.
Prunings from garden plants
Cardboard boxes ripped up
Kitchen paper [used]
Pets cage droppings {hampsters birds etc]
used vegetable oil
news paper
The list is endless copped up wollen cardigans can also be added but do take
off the buttons they dont tend to rot!
Diane

In message , Dave_R.
writes
On the topic of compost, does anyone have a good suggestion as to how
to deal with a lot of grass cuttings? I'm told (& have seen) that if I
put too much grass on the compost heap I end up with a dark, soggy,
smelly mass. What is the best suggestion for diluting the grass?

For certain values of "too much" this must be true, but I have no
problems at all adding roughly 1-2m^3 of grass clippings to mine every
week. It immediately starts rotting and reaches a peak temperature of
70-80C internally after a couple of days (slightly funny stale smell of
short chain fatty acids). It then slumps and I turn it over to mix in
and finish the top dry bit. It has mostly all gone by the time I next
cut the grass.

Obviously I do mix in hedge cuttings when I have them since the heap at
these sort of temperatures will consume quite thick hedge prunings too.
You can encourage it to go faster early in the season with a proprietary
accelerator like Garotta (cut with cheaper ammonium sulphate). I suspect
you may only need to do this step when establishing a new heap though.

I remember having trouble in a house with a 20' square lawn, but in my
present fairly large garden I have never had a problem.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

On 9/1/04 3:35 PM, in article , "Dave_R."
wrote:

On the topic of compost, does anyone have a good suggestion as to how
to deal with a lot of grass cuttings? I'm told (& have seen) that if I
put too much grass on the compost heap I end up with a dark, soggy,
smelly mass. What is the best suggestion for diluting the grass?

Hi Dave
I have experienced the same problem. You ask for 'the best' suggestion.
Well, my best suggestion comes in twos or more.
Firstly, keep your compost covered, keep the rain out. I put an old
rubber mat directly on top of the grass (to keep the heat in) and above that
a piece of plywood to keep the rain water off. On top of that I put a sheet
of black plastic that covers the complete bin top to bottom...I want to keep
the heat in!!
Now, after you have figured all that out...this is the key...add a
manure of some kind. This year I used dry chicken manure that I keep in a
barrel beside my bin.
So it goes like this:
I cut the grass, when the catcher is full, I empty it onto the pile then
sprinkle a dry chicken manure on top. I cut the grass and when the catcher
is full I dump it into the bin then add a sprinkling of dry chicken manure
on top. So it is freshly cut grass...chicken manure....freshly cut grass,
chicken manure. When all the lawn is cut put a rubber mat (old carpet with a
rubber base works well...anything like that, that will seal the top to keep
the heat in...my rubber mat came from an old Toyota Corolla Station Wagon
(Saloon, I think you call them).
There are two, no three, reasons why I use dry chicken manure.
1. It is easy to 'sprinkle' and spread, more or less, evenly.
2. Adding water to chicken manure (or any manure) releases the nitrogen
as ammonia...you can smell it as it goes on it's merry way and leaves your
garden (where you want and need it). For compost piles, use the dry stuff,
it carries much more nitrogen that is needed for the decomposition of grass
and other 'stuff'. But you need to cover it with a rubber mat to retain 'the
good stuff' (nitrogen) and keep the heat in.
3. My third reason for using dry chicken manure is because it is
available...thank you Lord!
I used to have several piles of grass clippings that would break down
eventually. This year using the above method I have only 1/2 a pile.
Dave, I know that this message is not totally organized and/or in a
logical sequence. Most of what you need to know is there to the best of my
knowledge and no you do not have to buy a Toyota to get a rubber mat to
cover your compost bin...just use your mothers!
Cheers,
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

"Dave_R." wrote in message
...
On the topic of compost, does anyone have a good suggestion as to how
to deal with a lot of grass cuttings? I'm told (& have seen) that if I
put too much grass on the compost heap I end up with a dark, soggy,
smelly mass. What is the best suggestion for diluting the grass?



one way is to dry the grass out before composting, I use empty onion sacks
from the local veg market. If it gets too dry use natural urea which adds
moisture and activates de-composition.

HTH

David