gnats-fruitflies-in-indoor-soil-factory
Heather Myers asked 3 months ago
My indoor soil factory has developed fruitfly-like insects – the soil is on the dry side and smells fine, Bokashi mostly broken down. They are smaller than soldier flies. I noticed them first crawling on the window panes – I don\’t know if the soil factory is the source but they seem to be mostly in the soil tub and on the windows. I was away for 2 weeks and turned the heat low. There was no food left out – they don\’t seem interested in food anyway. They must be laying eggs somewhere.
Nicki Casley Staff answered 3 months ago
Somehow these flies have found your soil factory, and multiplied in there. Perhaps they came in with the fresh soil you used to begin the soil factory. This can often be the case. A sure way to get rid of them is to start the soil factory over again, rinsing the bin before you do, and this time try to collect your new soil from a new place in the garden. And some suggestions for limiting this happening again in the future: A) be sure to break up and mix your bokashi precompost as you add it to the soil factory, as this will increase the speed and efficiency of the soil factory tremendously, B) be sure to add a couple of inches of fresh soil on top of your bokashi precompost in the soil factory (these couple of inches will act as a barrier from the flies getting to the precompost before it assimilates into the soil).