[johnkelly]

Having just been to the compost and put in the contents of the little plastic box from the kitchen (tea bags, banana, a few unidentifiable things) I was attacked by a mob of flies. It seems to eb getting much worse in the hot weather. What am I doing wrong? My wife refuses to go when it's like that and I don't really blame her.

Thanks

[Trillium]

Fruit comes with fruit flies though we don't realize it. Hot weather breeds them like crazy. But it sounds like your compost isn't heating up enough to kill them.  You'll either need to turn it over to get the heat going, or add some fresh muck and grass clippings. And a bit of water if your compost is on the dry side. Bug life doesn't survive in an actively heating compost pile.

[milkman]

Yup be brave and dig it all out and give it a good mix up - add some grass clippings if you can get hold of them and torn up strips of newspaper, if you've got guinea pigs or rabbits add in some of their hutch waste, give the garden a good trim and add in the timmings (cut/chop them up into small chunky bits) - mix it all in thoroughly with some water and put it all back in the bin to cook - this should solve the problem  

[johnkelly]

I'll dig out some protective clothing on the weekend then. Honestly it's like a black cloud when you remove the lid....

[WG.]

A piece of old carpet over the top helps a lot.  Cut it to shape so that it sits snug on top of the surface of the heap.  Hessian-backed is best

[Aunt Sally]

Nettles are really good at heating up the heap  :idea:

[johnkelly]

Well that was one of the most unpleasant jobs I've done for a while. The smell and face full of flies wass indescribable. Yuk.

Seems to be a lot better now though :-)

[WG.]

Bet it cleared your sinuses tho'