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compost bins

Can anybody help me out, my garden compost bin has a rather large white/cabbage fly infestation,is there something I can do or is the best tho.g to do is get rid of the contents disinfect and start again? Many thanks in advance

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  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

    Are we talking about Cabbage White (aka Large White) butterfly or a large infestation of whitefly?

    I have loads of whitefly in my heaps this year.  It's due to the mild winter - didn't kill them off as it's supposed to.  They'll infest plants as soon as they find them.

    Yellow sticky traps might do the trick. Smear insecticidal grease - or even vaseline or similar over some bits of yellow card and hang them in and near the problem area.  Or wave them around and see if you can catch them!

    There'd be little point in ditching your compost or disinfecting, IMO. 

    If they're Cabbage Whites I'll leave it to your conscience image

  • Jim MacdJim Macd Posts: 750

    Or you could relish the fact that you have a lively heap providing lots of insects for birds and bats. A balanced approach to gardening, not using chemicals to kill everything will result in much less work for you because the animals and insects you haven't killed will do it for you.

  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

    Yep.  That too.  If you can get the whitefly out of the heap so the birds can eat them.  Or persuade the birds to go in...

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