Composting and mulching is a natural process involving organic waste. And as such, it is almost inevitable to attract… little visitors.
Insect visitors.
That lay eggs in your mulch bucket.
I don’t want to be too gross about things [hence the lack of instructional pictures] but I’ve been a little too busy, sore and tired to go empty the mulch bucket into the compost bin, these last few days.
That bit me in the butt.
Big time.
Let’s just say I found a fine crop of live fish bait in the making, writhing around in my kitchen scraps. Gross.
But here’s what to do if this happens to you.
DO NOT panic or reach for the bug spray. We’re keeping this organic and chemical free, remember?
DO take the mulch container outside as soon as humanly possible.
Add a layer of cellulose to keep the little visitors inside.
Tip the contents wholesale into your compost tumbler.
You will, at this stage, find a few reluctant hangers-on in the bottom of your container. Your options are:
a) Use a generous handful of cellulose to sweep the hangers-on out and tip that into your compost tumbler.
b) Use hot water to kill the hangers-on and clean and sterilise your container in one fell swoop.
c) Grab the chemicals and spray the living crap out of everything.
Note, I do not recommend option C.
I chose option A, as grass clippings are free and plentiful. And, as it turned out, pretty pleasant in the nasal department. A couple of stirs around with a really generous handful of dead grass and there was no trace of my unwelcome company.
And don’t worry about the little visitors ruining things inside the compost tumbler. Compost generates a LOT of heat, and the whole box and dice pretty much gets most of the sunshine all day. Most, if not all of the little visitors will have passed on by the afternoon.
It’s not a nice topic, I know, but it is almost inevitable. It has to be dealt with and this is the more eco-friendly way of doing so.
