Getting rid of fruit flies in your compost bin is a straightforward and inexpensive process.
Here’s how to achieve a fruit-fly-free compost:
- Cover your compost with a lid or tarp to block access.
- Wrap food waste in paper to mask the scent from flies.
- Bury food scraps under brown material to deter flies.
- Turn the compost regularly to disrupt fly breeding.
- Set up a simple fruit fly trap near the compost.
To eliminate fruit flies from your compost bin, start by covering the compost with a lid or tarp. This simple action prevents flies from accessing the compost and is very effective. Next, before throwing your kitchen scraps into the compost pile, wrap them in old newspapers or paper bags. This tactic hides the smell of rotting food, which is what typically attracts fruit flies.
An additional strategy is to bury your green waste, like fruit scraps, beneath brown compost material such as dried leaves or cardboard. This not only masks the odor that attracts flies but also contributes to a balanced compost. Remember to turn your compost heap regularly; doing so allows air to circulate and speeds up the composting process, creating an environment that’s less appealing to fruit flies.
Lastly, create a fruit fly trap with a clear plastic container, banana peel or apple cider vinegar, and a few drops of dish soap. The banana peel or vinegar lures the flies in, while the soap breaks the surface tension, trapping the flies in the liquid. Place this trap on or near your compost bin to catch any flies drawn to your compost.
By following these steps, you can easily and economically maintain a pest-free composting environment.
Composting is an excellent way to turn food scraps and yard waste into usable material for your lawn and garden. However, the compost heap is not a pleasant-smelling area of the yard, often drawing flies, gnats, fruit flies, and other annoying insects. Find out how to get rid of fruit flies in the compost bin and keep your composting material as pest-free as possible.
If you’re an avid fruit eater, your compost pile probably has plenty of banana peels, apple cores, orange peels, and other rotten fruit scraps. While these green materials are necessary for the composting process, they are magnets for adult fruit flies and fungus gnats, often leading to a fruit fly infestation.
Nothing ruins an outdoor experience more than an overpopulation of compost flies. You spend more time swatting at the pests than working in the garden or doing lawn work and may even give up and head back indoors. Fortunately, there are steps to eliminate fruit flies and keep them out of the compost pile.
- Here's how to achieve a fruit-fly-free compost:
- Why Are There Fruit Flies in My Composting Material?
- Are Flies Harmful?
- Ways to Keep Flies Out of Compost
- Changing the Material in the Pile to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
- Get Rid of Flies in the Bin
- Using a Trap to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
- Ways to Prevent Insects in Your Compost Bin
Ways to Keep Flying Insects Out of Compost
Overripe fruit is a favorite food source for fruit flies, so it’s no wonder they spend their time feasting and breeding in a compost bucket or pile. Discover how to eliminate these pests and prevent a fruit fly problem.
Why Are There Fruit Flies in My Composting Material?
The best way to keep flies out of compost is to understand why they are there. Explore what attracts fruit flies to composting material and what causes them to become an infestation.
Compost flies are common since composting materials consist of ripe fruit scraps. Adult flies enjoy the alcohol produced from fermenting food waste. They lay their eggs in moist, organic material near this food source to ensure larvae have plenty to eat.
Are Flies Harmful?
All insects are a necessary part of nature, but are flies good for compost? No major issues arise from fruit flies hanging out in the compost pile. Nevertheless, they quickly become a nuisance. On the other hand, worms are good for composting, whether you have a vermicomposter or a standard compost pile or tumbler.
Fruit Flies and Composting
Fruit flies and other insects are beneficial to compost, helping to break down the organic matter. You may not want a fruit fly infestation since their presence is unbearable as you turn and water the material. However, while there are advantages to flies in the compost, each female fly lays up to 500 fruit fly eggs when given the opportunity.
Ways to Keep Flies Out of Compost
Though fruit flies do not affect the composting process, you don’t want them flying around, especially when they start breeding. Here are a few simple ways to catch a fruit fly and keep them out of the compost.
One of the more obvious and best ways to keep fruit flies out of the compost is to cover it with a lid or a tarp. It’s also useful to wrap kitchen scraps in paper bags or newspapers before tossing them into the compost bin. The paper contains the food smells as they break down, making it less noticeable to pests.
Consider applying fruit fly repellent oils around the compost bin. Pour some lavender, eucalyptus, lemongrass, or peppermint essential oil onto a cotton ball and wipe it on the bin’s edges to confuse the insects and deter them.
Changing the Material in the Pile to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Fruit flies become a problem if left unchecked, whether you have flies in compost tumbler, bin, or heap. Luckily, they are easy to control by adding different composting materials.
Fruit flies prefer an environment with high humidity, and adding more brown material, like cardboard, to the top of the compost heap lowers moisture levels. Additionally, flies enjoy the high nitrate content of compost and adding crushed eggshells remedies this problem.
Get Rid of Flies in the Bin
One of the best ways to prevent fruit flies in your compost bin is to hot compost rather than cold compost or worm compost. Hot composting is a method that uses heat to break down materials, creating fast compost with fewer pests.
Hot Composting
A hot compost pile contains brown and green materials broken into small pieces. You turn and water the compost regularly, which heats the compost between 130 and 140°F. The heat allows microbes to reproduce and quickly break down the organic matter. The high temperature prevents fly larvae in compost while killing harmful bacteria and weed seeds.
Using a Trap to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
The most straightforward way to get flies out of your compost bin is to make a fruit fly trap. This homemade trap is simple to put together, and lures and traps flies for convenient disposal. It kills fruit flies that become a problem near your composter.
Take a clear plastic container, like a plastic soda bottle, and pierce three or four holes in it with a toothpick. Place a banana peel or apple cider vinegar inside the container, close the lid, and set it on top of the compost pile. The flies enter the holes in search of food and cannot escape.
If you have an indoor compost machine, pour fruit juice or cider vinegar into a container with a squirt of dish detergent, and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Poke holes in the plastic and set the container near a fruit bowl to lure and trap flies.
Ways to Prevent Insects in Your Compost Bin
Composting takes time and effort; the last thing you want to deal with while turning and watering the compost is flies. There are several ways to prevent fruit flies in your compost bin and stop an infestation before it starts.
Since the food scraps, vegetables, and fruits are what attract vinegar flies, bury these nitrogen-rich materials beneath a layer of brown materials and soil.
Aeration is also a great way to deter these pests. Turn the pile regularly to increase oxygen levels and encourage decay. Keep the pile level and avoid letting the compost pile up in the center, which causes a warm center with cool edges.
For preventing fruit flies completely, avoid putting fermenting foods into the compost pile. While this slows the composting process, it eliminates a fruit fly problem. Instead, add grass clippings, perennial and annual plant trimmings, eggshells, seaweed, and coffee grounds.
Composting is one of the best forms of recycling. You end up with a rich soil conditioner for your vegetable garden, lawn, and plants. However, compost is a free meal for fruit flies and other pests. Fortunately, there are simple ways to prevent fruit flies from taking over the compost pile and becoming a nuisance.
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