r/Vermiculture • u/Chumps55 • 6d ago
Advice wanted Pre-compost potential fly infestation vector?
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?
3
u/Longjumping_Home2963 6d ago
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