Fruit Flies

One of the most common composting questions has to be "What can I do about all those fruit flies?". It seems that by the time summer comes around, many composters have clouds of these little devils swarming to greet you when you lift the lid.

The problem arises from one common mistake people tend to make. They take their kitchen bucket of food scraps out to the composter, open the lid of the composter, dump the food scraps in, and put the lid back on the composter. In doing this, you have just made a large number of fruit flies very happy, because there is nothing fruit flies like quite so much as a fresh batch of exposed food waste.

A couple of simple techniques to discourage them from making a home in your composter are as follows:

• mix the fresh food waste into the material that is already in the composter, using a pitchfork or other suitable garden tool that should be left handy by your composter.
• sprinkle some leaves or other garden waste over top of the mixed in material before closing the lid — this adds a needed source of carbon, and covers any fresh food scraps to discourage those fruit flies.

Odour Problems

One of the biggest fears that people have regarding backyard composting is that the composter is going to smell. In fact, many people don't compost for this reason, or gave up composting because they found that their composter did smell. This perception is unfortunate, because a properly maintained composter will not give off unpleasant odours — if anything, it should be almost sweet-smelling. If your composter is emitting foul odours, it means you aren't managing it properly.

"My composter smells like rotten eggs !"

Cause: Hydrogen Sulphide is given off when decomposition takes place under anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions. This shortage of oxygen can be the result of too little stirring or too much water.

Remedy: Get as much air in the composter as possible. Stir everything thoroughly, and add some dry material such as peat moss or saw dust if it appears to be too wet. In extreme cases, you may want to remove the composter so you can mix air completely into the pile.

"My composter smells like ammonia !"

Cause: This is usually the result of too much nitrogen-rich material in the composter, particularly grass clippings.

Remedy: Add carbon-rich material, such as leaves, saw dust or peat moss, and mix well. Stir frequently for a few days until the odour goes away.