A couple of months ago Hay accepted some bags of sawdust from a neighbour for use in our composting toilet. The only problem was that the sawdust had been standing outside for a while and had been infected with eggs of the fungus gnat. In the warm, dark and moist confines of the composting loo, the eggs hatched, resulting in an infestation of tiny flies in one of the cabins.
The first solution was to spray fly spray inside the toilet and hope for the best; however, the lifecycle of the fungus gnat is so short that they manage to reproduce at an alarming rate and a single spray was ineffectual. I found myself having to spray once twice a week, but even that wasn't enough for permanent control.
I progressed to spraying every morning and evening and, while at first it looked promising, they kept returning, but not in such great numbers.
Meanwhile Hay consulted the Humanure Handbook and discovered that nematodes are a good biological weapon, as they eat the fungus fly's eggs. She promptly bought some online, but in the meantime the relentless chemical warfare was having an effect. A week on and no more flies are apparent, but I need to continue attacking them for another week.
If this fails, the nematodes will be released, although I think we may use them anyway, as they'll prevent any future infection if they form a sustainable colony and are unaffected by the fly spray.
The things you learn when you go back to basics...
1 comment:
Sounds like you need to do a NBCD course with your local Civil Defence unit ?
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