Compost problem

Help!! I have June beetle grubs in my compost box. I have had them for a couple of years and last year went to a seminar on composting and took a grub is a jar so they identified the little (gross) critter. I had a open compost box at the time. Well I screened all the compost out and removed what I thought was all the grubs and then my DH built me a great enclosed box and I put back all the uncomposted material. Well, the other day I was emptying the rabbit goodies in the box and there were more grubs back again. Does anyone have any suggestion on getting rid the them?

Never had this problem but this is a great question,I too use rabbit so I want to see what I may have to be ready for.I may be lucky because of my zone...still wanna see.
Shoe? ever had to deal with the beetle?

It sounds to me like your pile is not hot enough.
Make sure you are using the correct ratio of nittogen to carbon. Maybe give it a shot of nitrogen to heat it up, grass clippings are great for this. Make sure you turn it regularaly.

Paul

I had a similar problem but with more coffee grounds and more bagged browns such as forest mulch, and also turning, I got rid of them. Air circulation will do wonders for the problem. I don't really turn mine, I just removed every thing and transfered to another bin, with adding coffee grounds and bagged browns as I went along. Also don't let it get too wet and too compacted I often fluff up my pile to let air in with heavy rubber gloves, of course. You could try loamer builder type of products with added manure which will also increase heat, but some of the those bagged mulches make me sneeze. Manure makes me feel ill, and red wood compost, makes me feel like I have a severe cold. I have terrible allergies. But, I presist with the compost pile. I don't want to let allergies stop me from doing what I love.

My theory is that the grubs are eating the compost, which is bad, the worms are being good, you want more worms and less grubs. It may be impossible to get rid of all of them, but you can turn things around. The grubs are competing with the worms for food, your role is to change the conditions of the pile to flavor the worms not the grubs.

I wonder if applying milky spore to the compost pile would kill the grubs without harming the resulting compost?

If your pile is all grubs and no worms you can use boiling hot water but they always come back unless you change the conditions of the pile. I have never heard of milky spores, what are they?

Milky spore is a bio control for Japanese beetle grub worms - its botanical name is a mouthful, but here's a little more info: http://davesgarden.com/terms/go/1163/

It's available as a powder from most large lawn/garden centers or co-op stores

Vic I found this on the web, this explains what I have, and once you have it you will never be able to exercise like you are doing now, the pain is unbelieveble.

What are the symptoms of patella-femoral syndrome?
The symptoms of patella-femoral syndrome are generally vague discomfort of the inner knee that is aggravated by activities such as running, jumping, or going up and down stairs. Often the pain is much more severe upon arising from a desk or a seat. In severe cases the muscle of the thigh can lose strength and mild swelling of the knee may occur.

There are other over use injuries such as skin spints, I am not saying don't exercise don't lose weight, I am just suggesting moderation, and or swimming instead of pounding on your knee, for hours every day.

I can barely even keep the house clean now, and I can't even hike or take a long walk, I have not hiked up and down hill in years. You don't want to end up like me.

Thanks everyone, I'm going to try Beneficial Neomatodes and try adding more brown matter. One good thing is that we have thousands of worms and they seem very happy as they are reproducting like crazy.

Add the grass clipping and or coffee ground with the browns in a 50 50 ratio.

Acturally the correct ratio of Carbon (browns) to Nitrogen (grass Clippings) is 30:1. 3 bags of brown to 1 bag of grass or greens.
Nitrogen in excess of that will begin to give off gasses , the rotting grass odor.
I think if you turned the pile often 2-3 times a week, and used the above mentioned ratios you would solve your problem.

Good Luck

Paul

It kind of depends what kind of browns you are using, bagged browns can become expensive if you use that much just to use of the lawn clippings. If you mean straw or newspaper it is probably what you are saying, but bagged browns are condensed and I find 50 50 works.

Sometimes people get a huge thing of coffee grounds because they are free and dump them in and they get mad that it does not heat up, but they neglected to add any browns, so without the browns the coffee won't heat up.

Actually I would never use straw again and newspaper, I would not use either. The ink is kind of toxic.

Almost all newpapers now us soy based ink which is non toxic.
You can't use the glossy inserts though.

Paul

For some reason the ink makes me allergic epecially those free newspapers, for some reason, I can read the chronicle if I am careful to have air circulation, but those free ones are often worse. I was meaning to say, I find the ink to be toxic to me, not toxic or harmful to the soil.

I have Never used newspapers in my compost.JMHO!

I use a pad of newspaper (usually the NY Times metro news section), on top of my vermiculture compost to maintain an even level of moisture, and to provide the worms with some company lower than dirt.

They don't seem to eat the newspaper readily; whether due to the subject matter or the ink I'm totally in the dark.

Adam.

This message was edited Sunday, Mar 2nd 1:22 AM

Aotearoa
Do the worms prefer the Business section or the sports page?
I think I'll use the Wall Street Journal to cover my worms.
Bush can't seem to do anything with the ecomony maybe the worms can:)

Paul

Probably the newspaper fibers don't have enough nurition for the worms? I would suggest peat moss, but some people don't like it. The peat moss will cover and retain the moisture. I have a closed lid bin, so I don't have that problem.

BugGirl ~~~

It was a joke on the two potential types of "content".

Actually, if you shred the newspaper, red worms (I know nothing about earth worms), eat it quite readily.

Adam.

shredding the NY Times seems like a good thing to do regardless to whether the worms eat it.I use the local paper for weed blocker between the rows in the ny veggie garden, then throw them in the compost pile at seasons end.