[Parsnip]

I'd noticed over the last few weeks ago that my garden compost bin had lots of little white winged flies in it. I've just been up to empty my caddy into it and a swarm of them flew out when I took off the lid


 Does anyone know what they are, is it normal?

[SnooziSuzi]

do they look like the pesky whitefly that you get on brassicas?

seen from above they are tiny little white triangles, and when disturbed they fly up in a cloud of white.  damp them down with some soapy water otherwise they'll invade your cabbages and broccoli later in the season.

Incidentally,  if they are whitefly (which are actually a teeny moth) I had horrendous problems with them in 2007 but last year I grew some french marrigold and some crysanths, both of which are a bit smelly and I maybe had 50 individual moths, as opposed to about 50,000 the year before!

[Parsnip]

Yes they are Soozi...   Luckily I don't have any veg growing in the garden, although I had been planning on putting some salad stuff in..


I wonder should I get rid of it all?

[SnooziSuzi]

nah, they're just a nuissance really so a mist of soapy water should do the trick!

[senrab_nhoj]

Fruit flies

These are tiny white or brown flies no more than 2mm in length. They will be present in large numbers and can appear as a cloud when the compost bin lid is removed.

Anybody who puts fruit and vegetable wastes into their bin will encounter these files at some point during the summer. They are totally harmless and are part of the composting process because they feed on the fruit acids contained in the material.

To remove them, simply cover the top layer of fruit or vegetable wastes with a thin layer of soil or compost and they should disappear within a couple of days.

[Parsnip]

Great, thanks for the advice!