Yuck!!!
This is what I found in my compost bin. Really gross. I pulled a few out and left them in a box for the birds. The blue jays loved them! If anyone out there can identify what these grubs are, please let me know if they turn to really bad pests! The upside are the grubs accelerate decomposition of organic matter.
Turning Compost
Another catch up post. Word is we will have a cold winter. My tomato plants are already dying from the low midnight temperatures (low 40’s), but perhaps we can expect more water this year? Rain water really spurs plant growth, and my spinach, kale, and beet plants do find in high-30’s weather. As said before, the bottleneck in production has been lack of fertilizer. During summer composting really slows down as heap piles dry up under the hot sun. It’s important to keep you compost piled covered, moist, and hot. In order to facilitate more optimal conditions, I occasionally hose the compost down, mixing in wet table scraps. Bunny droppings are mostly dry and, though always welcome, do not help in this regard.
To the right are some pictures of my compost bin earlier this summer when I disappointedly found only the very bottom had converted to soil. Notice the stark sedimentation. My bin is divided in two, so I removed the partition (which slides in and out) , got a shovel, and turned the heap over, racking off the soil at the bottom and adding it to my new crop rows. Turning over your compost is important and accelerates decomposition since the organic matter at the top decays very slowly compared to when it sits at the bottom.
However, I have a new development in my compost pile. My food scraps (which had some unintentional chicken skin/juice mixed in) attracted some strange flies. I know have a ton of grotesque larva in the bin, and it will be interesting to see what crawls out. I hope they are moth larva. This is when a chicken would come in handy. These grubs are rather large and would make a great meal for any birdie. Meanwhile, I can look at the ‘up’ side. The grubs are helping with the compost, eating organic matter, digesting, and eliminating. Eventually they will grow up and leave the bin. I will add a pix of the grubs at this same post later. I will also update readers what these gross critters metamorphed into.
Bunny Trails 