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Dear Wilma: I am assuming your worm compost bin is outdoors. Thus, I must assume that the flies also are outdoors. I also am guessing that by describing the flies as “the size of hornets,” you mean big.
Without more information, it is rather difficult for me to identify your flies, but I suspect they are not horseflies, because, according to my National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Spiders and Insects, horse flies, which are large and black (though they are not long, they are built like the proverbial brick outhouse) lay their eggs over water, and their larvae pupate in the mud near the water. Also, because horseflies bite viciously, you would already have identified them.
After a bit of online hunting, your maggots and flies have been tentatively identified as black soldier flies (Hermetia illuscens). The females of this species lay their eggs in wet, rotting food. The inch-long, torpedo-shaped larvae eat enormous quantities of decaying nitrogen-rich materials. Black soldier flies spend the entire two days of their adult lives mating or looking for mates; the adults don’t eat at all. The larvae reduce waste so efficiently that they are used to process hog and poultry waste.
Black soldier flies coexist quite peacefully with composting worms, so they are probably making your composting bin more efficient!
Dear Ellen: Our school bathroom always smells like urine, as if people are peeing on the floor, because some kids do. What can we do? We think the urine has soaked into the grout. — Shelby
Dear Shelby: Go (or send your custodian) to the nearest hardware or pet store and purchase a large jug of an enzyme “Pet Stain and Odor Remover.” Follow the directions on the jug. Usually this entails treating the area and then keeping it covered so it stays wet for a requisite length of time. The enzyme will digest the urine.
Once the area is clean, it would be a good idea to seal the grout, otherwise the area will begin to stink again as soon as a student with bad aim uses the toilet. You can buy grout sealer while you are at the hardware store. Grout sealant eventually wears off, so grout should be resealed periodically.
Dear Ellen: We have ants under the tiles in the bathroom eating the rotting wet wood. Do you have any suggestions before we can have the time and space to redo the whole floor? — Bill
Dear Bill: A sprinkling of borax in all the cracks and crevices will kill the ants, but aren’t you afraid that you and your sink and your toilet and your enormous spa tub are going to go crashing through the floor? I think this situation might be called a maintenance emergency. You need to get the leak and the floor fixed as soon as possible!
In the meantime, try to stop the leak, caulk the crack or fix the pipe. You also might need to just rip up the tiles so the floor can dry out.
Ellen Sandbeck is an organic landscaper, worm wrangler, writer and graphic artist. Send questions to ellen.sandbeck@gmail.com or Ask Ellen, 4781 Emerson Road, Duluth, MN 55803.
