Fruit Flies, Gnats, and House Flies in a Worm Bin
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Time to read 3 min
One of the biggest hesitations people have about worm composting is fear of attracting and growing flies in their home. Although flying insects certainly are a threat in mis-managed worm bins, they are pretty easily taken care of with one or two safety protocols in place.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so let's first talk about ways to prevent insects from your bin in the first place.
Preventing Flies From Your Worm Bin
1. Don't Leave Nutritious Food Exposed
If your food scraps are buried under the surface of the bedding it will help in two ways. First, the flying insects will have a harder time finding it, and secondly, the worms will have an easier time finding it which means they'll eat it quicker before any other competitor could find it.
2. Freeze or Boil Your Scraps Beforehand
Fruit flies are the enemy, and you get to decide if they meet their fate via frost or the flame.
Freezing food waste will kill most, if not all, of any macroscopic insect life before it gets the chance to be introduced to the bin. It will also help food break down in the worm bin once it thaws as the thaw/freeze cycle will cause the cells to burst within the fruit/vegetable waste. Freezing is also a good way to store your food waste if you have more than your worms can handle at a given time.
All around freezing food waste first is a pretty good practice.
However, if you'd prefer to see the dreaded fruit flies burn, you can briefly boil your fruit/vegetable waste beforehand.
And if you really hate these guys, you can harness nuclear power and microwave food scraps shortly.
3. Keep the Moisture Just Right
Fruit flies, gnats, and especially maggots (which become house flies) love anaerobic stinky conditions. Ensure your bin's moisture level is like a wrung-out sponge. It should be dry enough that it could soak up more moisture if provided, but wet enough that the worms don't have to worry about drying up.
4. Avoid Overfeeding
This is a great rule in general. If there is too much food for the worms are they are leaving behind "leftovers," other organisms, such as fruit flies and gnats, will take advantage of it. If you are starting to see too many fruit flies cut back on your feedings so there's no excess food other than what the worms can eat in 2-3 days time.
5. Apply a physical barrier for insects
By placing a breathable fabric over any ventilation holes into the worm bin, it will prevent insects from entering or exiting the bin. Just make sure the worms can still breathe!
Eliminating Flies From Your Worm Bin
If you are already seeing flies, gnats, or other flying insects in your worm bin, first begin to implement the "pro-active" preventative measures, and then move on to the reactive measures below.
1. Set Up a Fruit Fly Trap
If fruit flies have already established you can set up a trap to catch them. Any open container with apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap will attract and drown them. Place it near your bin and you should see it start to collect little bug corpses.
2. A Bug Zapper
Bug zappers can work quite well to eliminate flying insects. The ones that are advertised to work well on mosquitoes do a good job at zapping gnats.
3. Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous Earth is the shells of microscopic "diatoms." It is like microscopic glass shards that cut insect exoskeletons causing them to lose internal moisture and die. It can be sprinkled on top of the worm bin to help ward off any insects. Diatomaceous earth does not hurt the worms, and will perform best if it remains dry on the surface of the bin.
4. BTI and Beneficial Nematodes
Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis is a type of bacteria that eats into insects bodies and will kill them. It can be applied in mosquito dunks, or alongside beneficial nematodes that carry the bacteria with them.
Scott Kent
Owner of Hungry Worms. Worm farmer, soil microbiologist, and educator since 2014. Read more about me here.