Defeating a Swarm of Fruit Flies

A few people have asked me how the worm bin is going, so here's a little update...

I definitely made the mistake of putting too much food in the bin when we were starting out. One of the many advantages of a worm bin over a traditional compost bin is that it's not supposed to stink, but our bin started getting pretty rank. We also got a major gathering of fruit flies, and some of the worm tea started leaking out of the bottom holes.

There came a week when the weather was going to drop down really low, and it would have been best to bring the worms indoors for the night. But there was no way I was going to bring that rank mess of flies and worms into my house.

Luckily, the worms survived the cold, and they seem to be multiplying. In the meantime, I've cut way back on how much I was putting in there. I think I've gotten better now at telling how much I can feed them, but it sure isn't as much as I was hoping. At this rate, we're going to need several more bins to be able to compost all of our waste.

Warning, gross pictures ahead...

Even though the worm bin is out on our porch, a swarm of sneaky fruit flies snuck into the house. If you ever have the same problem, here's how you get rid of fruit flies:

STEP ONE: Keep your counters cleared of anything that the fruit flies might find appetizing.

STEP TWO: Put a small bowl of apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar on the counter. Apparently, fruit flies can't resist the stuff. Leave the bowl on the counter for a few days, and pretty soon, you'll see this: