Maggots?

Posted by Cassandra on January 5, 2011 at 6:11pm

I think I have a pretty healthy compost pile.  It is a no-meat compost pile.  I turn it every once and a while and the heat is visible that emits from the pile in the form of steam.  It was pretty exciting knowing it was "cooking."  Anywho, one of my friends gave me a small container of what we think are maggots from her compost pile and I put them into mine...is there any problem with this?  I have a fairly ignoramous question and that is "Are maggots only present in meat compost piles and will these maggots (if they are only present among meat) ruin my compost pile?" 

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Replies

  • XenitH January 14, 2011 at 1:21am
    I agree with the larvae theory. My wife and I had maggot-like little guys in one of our compost piles years ago, even though we don't even bring meat/eggs/cheese into our place. All our table-scraps were uncooked so we knew they couldn't be maggots. They never did any harm, and we didn't see them for too long. My Love was afraid to even turn the compost for fear of hurting the little guys : ) They must have hatched and moved on to the next phase of their lives.
  • Trevor Ray January 5, 2011 at 9:10pm

    You sure they're maggots?  I had some Black Soldier fly larvae infest my compost pile... and have to say I couldn't be happier that they did-

      They compost the material much more quickly, eat almost anything, and are supposed to keep the unwanted/unhygenic  flies away. 

     

    Check out a few pictures on the internet of Black Soldier Fly larvae.

    • Cassandra > Trevor Ray January 5, 2011 at 9:51pm

      The little critters currently present in the compost pile are far bigger than maggots, based on the internet pictures.  I guess, we can nix the idea that we have maggots and lean more towards the idea that we have larvae.  Thank you for the information. 

       

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