Okay, I think the jury's back in and my compost is actually just a pile of rotting garbage. It's turned black and is definitely composting, but it is filled with maggots. Can I just bury it and forget about it and start over?

I don't know but isn't that just a part of the composting process? True, I don't know anything about composting, but this seemed logical to me, somehow.

If the internal temperature of the compost is correct, there shouldn't be maggots. Essentially I have a fly factory behind my house now!

giblet wrote:If the internal temperature of the compost is correct, there shouldn't be maggots. Essentially I have a fly factory behind my house now!

Hm, I hope for you that somebody else comes up with something; a fly factory close to your house is not very nice, to say the least. Last week there was a dead-ceremony opposite our home, fcuk that NOISE, but later they disposed of their garbage (from the make-shift kitchen) close to our front door in those ricebags. Man, man, thousand of flies were attracted to that in no time!
Well anyway, good luck!

I think my family paid like $300 or $400 to have an underground methane extraction system put in. Animal feces goes in, gas comes out for fueling the house stoves and such. The byproduct comes out into a lagoon where it's odor free and then shoveled up into a compost heap. Works great.

Just a thought... and to let people know such things exist here.

OrangeDragon wrote:I think my family paid like $300 or $400 to have an underground methane extraction system put in. Animal feces goes in, gas comes out for fueling the house stoves and such. The byproduct comes out into a lagoon where it's odor free and then shoveled up into a compost heap. Works great.

Just a thought... and to let people know such things exist here.

Do these things actually work? That would be cool. Reminds me of that BBC series "The Good Life".

giblet wrote:If the internal temperature of the compost is correct, there shouldn't be maggots. Essentially I have a fly factory behind my house now!

If it is out in the sun, cover it with black polytheen plastic and the temperature should shoot up and kill all those maggots.

StroppyChops wrote:

OrangeDragon wrote:I think my family paid like $300 or $400 to have an underground methane extraction system put in. Animal feces goes in, gas comes out for fueling the house stoves and such. The byproduct comes out into a lagoon where it's odor free and then shoveled up into a compost heap. Works great.

Just a thought... and to let people know such things exist here.

Do these things actually work? That would be cool. Reminds me of that BBC series "The Good Life".

With about 10 cows, 6 geese, a handful of ducks, 6 pigs, and a bunch of chickens it's producing enough gas to power 3 households worth of 2 burner stoves and 3 mantle gas lamps. Now I really wish I'd bought a propane generator instead of a diesel one honestly... then it could run that as well.

OrangeDragon wrote:

StroppyChops wrote:Do these things actually work? That would be cool. Reminds me of that BBC series "The Good Life".

With about 10 cows, 6 geese, a handful of ducks, 6 pigs, and a bunch of chickens it's producing enough gas to power 3 households worth of 2 burner stoves and 3 mantle gas lamps. Now I really wish I'd bought a propane generator instead of a diesel one honestly... then it could run that as well.

Nice. We're involved with an orphanage in Sumatra where the young men have been trained to run their own western-style piggery. Immaculately clean, stalls, hot mash twice a day, long whites from Aussie stock, that sort of thing. They run the effluent off into one of two dams, when a dam fills they dry it, and then spread the dried kak onto their grain and vegetable gardens in the next field. Neat little system, works well. Always been fascinated by effluent digestors, though.

giblet wrote:Okay, I think the jury's back in and my compost is actually just a pile of rotting garbage. It's turned black and is definitely composting, but it is filled with maggots. Can I just bury it and forget about it and start over?

Maggot isn't good.

You could try one of the following:
1. collect the maggots and sell them in the market.
2. collect the maggots and sell them to people fishing at the riverside.
3. As Duncan said,"cover it with black polytheen plastic and the temperature should shoot up and kill all those maggots".
4. Add a couple of chickens to your menagerie. Let them scratch through your compost and eat the maggots, at the same time as mixing it for you and adding their own donation to the cause.



"A pile of rotting garbage" doesn't sound good. Is it slushy? Yucky, yucky?
If that's the case, then it is too wet and needs more carbon materials (like dry grass [hay], dry fallen leaves, or even ripped up newspaper should work).
The middle of your compost heap should be very, very hot. So hot that you can only put your hand in there for a couple of seconds. If it is really hot like that, then mixing the compost will help kill any maggots.
Plus, you really should keep it covered for a few reasons. 1. To protect from rain which makes it slushy. 2. To stop it from drying out. [There's a balance in there somewhere]. 3. To keep flies and rats out.