how to have compost bucket in the summer

COWLOVINGIRL

Does anyone have some tips on how to have a food scrap bucket on the counter in the summer and keep away the fruit flies?

flowerpower *

@COWLOVINGIRL I use the same system summer and winter indoors, which has evolved to a small galvanized steel pail from a hardware store, topped by a large Corelle plate. You can also buy smaller and more expensive compost pails with liners. I have to modify my compost heap outdoors to be away from my home in the summer and closer to the door in the winter because of the wild animals attracted to the compost.

Torey

@COWLOVINGIRL I have a bucket with a lid and I keep it in the cupboard under the sink instead of on the counter. Not really any way to keep fruit flies at bay without a lid of some kind.

@flowerpower * We had a bear "turn" our compost pile for us this summer. He did a great job! :)

JodieDownUnder

@COWLOVINGIRL We have a compost bucket on the bench in our kitchen all year round. It has a neat fitting lid with 2 filters inside the lid, which are removable, made from a plastic substance that resembles flat steel wool. It is emptied daily. Every couple of days I rinse them and when they're dried, put a few drops of tea tree oil on them, fit them back up into the lid. Keeps all the insects away. Works just fine.

annbeck62

I use a small container with a lid and empty daily.

annflancan

I bought a counter compost bin from Amazon and it has two filters to mitigate any smell and I will only get fruit flies if I go away and forget to empty it before I leave. Empty it regularly and the flies should not be a problem.

flowerpower *

@COWLOVINGGIRL Keeping the bucket covered keeps the fruit flies at bay but if they get in I use a method to thin them down. I pack something to attract the crowd of fruit flies, say a bowl of fermented fruit, towards the door slowly, sitting it down for quite a while and then moving it, then open the door and sit the fruit bowl just outside the door. Finally I dump the fruit bowl. This will clear out many fruit flies.

COWLOVINGIRL

Okay, thanks!

Merin Porter

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/879441#Comment_879441

We do something along these lines, with the fruit -- we place some overripe fruit in a mason jar, cover it with plastic wrap, and punch a very small hole in the plastic wrap, and stick a straw through the hole. The bottom of the straw should be above the top of the fruit (or somewhere inside the jar where the fruit flies will be able to crawl out).

The nice thing is that, once they crawl in, they have a hard time crawling out. Remove all other attractants from the kitchen, and fruit flies will flock to the trap.

Once there are a good number in there, remove the straw, cover the straw hole, and stick the jar in the freezer overnight. This will kill the live fruit flies, but doesn't seem to kill any eggs that they may have laid in the jar, as within about a week of removing the jar from the freezer, you will start to see live fruit flies in the jar again. That goes in the "for what it's worth" category! :)

VermontCathy

A bucket with a lid would probably work, but we don't bother.

We use a very small bathroom-sized trashcan for a kitchen compost container. Because it's so small, it is less likely to attract many insects, and it gets emptied frequently (at least one a day, sometimes more). I haven't had a significant issue with fruit flies.

COWLOVINGIRL

Thank you all for the suggestions!

Silkiemamuska

Any small container with a lid has worked for me. The key is to empty at least daily and keep the lid on. My husband drinks preground coffee that comes in canisters so I have used those before also. More than once he has reached for the wrong canister because I had not marked it!😂