Pre-compost potential fly infestation vector?

[u/Chumps55]

Hi! Recently acquired a new worm farm a handful of days ago so still figuring this out.

My current set up I have is a tumbler compost bin and a 3 tier worm farm/cafe. We’re dumping kitchen scraps into the compost bin with the aim to feed the worms from the composting bin weekly or whatever schedule works out best. Compost is roughly 70-80% browns to greens (lots of shredded cardboard/paper tissues).
Was planning on this setup since Ive read worms tend to prefer slightly decomposed bacteria laden scraps over fresh food.

My concern is I’ve noticed some flies and gants hanging around the compost bin. I suppose its to be expected and its nothing insane and its definitely not infestation levels but it got me wondering if Im setting myself up for failure here. By feeding from the composting bin do I introduce the risk of introducing a bunch of fly larvae into my bin and is there ways to mitigate this?
Or do i just do away with the precompost step and go straight to feeding the worms?

[u/overdue_momentum]

you're basically running a fly nursery and then gifting it to your worms, so yeah the concern is real. i pre-compost too and what worked for me was keeping the tumbler sealed tight for a week or two after adding fresh scraps, let the heat build up enough to cook any eggs before it goes near the worms. burying the pre-compost under a thick layer of bedding in the worm bin also helps, the flies can't reach it to lay more and any that hatch inside tend to stay buried. wouldn't scrap the whole pre-compost step though, the worms go nuts for that half-rotten stuff

[u/Chumps55 → u/overdue_momentum]

Right, it totally makes sense that the heat from the composting process would probably kill off any laid eggs or critters.

Do you run two bins so you always have one to dump scraps into and another going through the composting process then switch? Or does your schedule work out that a weekly dump into the bin is all you need?

Thanks!

[u/OddAd7664 → u/overdue_momentum]

lol fly nursery

[u/Longjumping_Home2963]

freeze the scraps for a couple days before they go in the tumbler. fruit flies mostly come home already on the banana peels, so the eggs die before they ever get near the worms, and bonus the frozen stuff goes mushy when it thaws so the worms get to it faster

[u/Good_Height1877]

I recently did a reset on my composting container. Before I added a lot of stuff that I don’t mind outside but don’t want in my indoor worm bins. So now I throw in only things that break down fast to feed the (half) finished compost to my worms indoor. But outside there are flies and fruit flies and gnats and centipedes and ear wigs and animals I don’t even know. 😂 So I was thinking. When the time comes I will freeze the amount of compost I want to feed for 3 days. Insects, larvae, eggs should all die in the freezer. The microbes should, for the largest part, Go to sleep and wake up when thawn.
Unfortunately since I hatched that larvae of an idea recently I had no test run yet. But logically it should work out.

[u/VGen71]

Get rid of those gnats for sure. I have found that little bolls o
R whatever you hav available for holding apple cider vinegar works for those gnats. As for the flies, you mi want to try some fly strips. Jm2cents worth : )

[u/Prestigious_Way_1877]

I add springtails and I'm about to add isopods. They directly compete for the same food.

You can also skip both of those options and either order a BTI concentrate and use that to moisten your bedding in order to prevent them from pupating. You can also make a "tea" from a product called mosquito bits or mosquito dunks which also contains BTI.

[u/Marshmellowtwo]

I use BTI tea to keep my pre-compost damp and then a burrito top with shreds. It seems to keep the gnats down.
BTI is used in all my bins also.