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QUESTION: What do I do if I have maggots in my compost?

ANSWER: If you have maggots in your compost, there are several different options for what you can do. Maggots are the larvae of the black soldier fly. To keep flies from laying more larvae eggs in your compost, cover the ventilation holes on your compost bin with a fine wire mesh to keep flies out. To get rid of the maggots that are in your bin already, you can add a cup of lime for every 25 cubic feet of compost, or add pine needles or citrus fruit waste to your compost. Any of these additives will help get rid of the maggots in your compost pile. 

To help create an environment that is less inviting to maggots in your compost heap, add more brown compostable materials to the mix. Adding more browns to your compost will dry it out some and lower the ratio of food matter available for them to feed on in the compost mixture. Alternatively, you could choose to just let the maggots stay in your compost. Though maggots are kinda gross, they are actually great for composting as they can consume and process lots of organic materials and turn them into usable compost very quickly. 

The final product of maggot-made compost is sometimes slightly less appealing than regular compost, lacking the rich, earthy smell and appearing a bit off in comparison to compost without maggots. However, having maggots in your compost will speed up the decomposition process significantly, and their presence in your heap is completely harmless to the other beneficial insects and microbes present in your pile, or to the compost product itself. 

QUESTION: How much compost do I use?

ANSWER: When amending your garden soil with compost, work in one to two inches of compost. If you are adding compost to the top layer of soil, add ¼ to ½ an inch.

When amending the soil, the recommended maximum amount of compost is 30% to 50% for a soil blend, and no more than 30% for containers and raised beds. The ideal blend is 5% compost. When adding compost to your soil, a general rule of thumb is to add one part compost to a minimum of two parts native soil.

QUESTION: How much ash should I put in my compost?

ANSWER: Ashes from burning wood in a fireplace contains important nutrients such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium, all of which were present in the original wood. Ash can be added to your compost pile as a brown carbon-producing material to balance out green, nitrogen-producing materials such as kitchen scraps and grass clippings.

Use ashes in moderation in your compost, however, because no matter how nutrient rich ash may be, it is also highly alkaline, so it can help raise the pH of acidic soils, but can otherwise throw off the pH balance in your compost and eventually, your amended soil. Follow the following instructions to add fire ash to your compost heap. 

First, grab a soil pH test kit from your local garden center or nursery in order to determine the pH balance of your soil before adding wood ash to your compost. If your soil is alkaline, with a pH over 7.0, it’s a bad idea to add wood ash to your compost.

Keep an eye on the weather conditions and pick a day with no heavy wind gusts so that the ash won’t blow and scatter away into the air before you can get it into the compost pile. Put on a pair of gloves, a face mask, and goggles, or some other form of eye protection when handling ashes, as the tiny particles from ash can easily be inhaled, and the high alkalinity of the ashes can irritate your skin 

Using a shovel, place the ash in a bag for transporting it to the compost pile and gather up the other materials that are ready to add to the compost. Keep in mind that a healthy compost balance consists of three times as much brown material (brown leaves, newspaper, clean cotton rags) than green material (grass clippings and kitchen scraps). 

Layer the compost heap with alternating layers of green and brown materials, adding in wood ash at the same time as your brown layer. Don’t place more than a ⅛ inch layer of ash into each nine inch section of brown compost materials, and be sure to alternate your brown layers with three inch layers of green material to keep a proper balance of carbon-producing and nitrogen-producing materials. 

Adding too much ash can be harmful to the compost due to its alkalinity. Turn your pile with a shovel or garden fork everytime you add new items to your compost and make sure that each addition of ash is partnered with a full nine inch layer of brown materials to balance the alkalinity of the wood ash.   

QUESTION: How long does it take to compost in a five-gallon bucket?

ANSWER: Composting in a 5-gallon bucket, if kept slightly moist, turned often, and consisted of one third green materials to two thirds brown materials, composting in a five-gallon bucket DIY setup should take approximately six weeks.

In six weeks time, the compost in your bucket should shrink to about half of the volume of its original size. You can either add the contents to the soil directly, or you can add the compost to the soil and drain the liquid (compost tea), which will basically work as a fertilizer and can be poured around your plants

QUESTION: How long does it take for food scraps to turn into compost?

ANSWER: Depending on the size of your compost pile, what you put in it and how you tend to it, the decomposition process that transforms your food scraps into compost can take anywhere from three months to two years. You will know that your compost is ready when it starts to cool, turns a rich, dark brown color, breaks down into small, soil-like particles and begins to smell earthy. At this point, your compost is ready to use.