swarms of flies in compost
sthlndngrower
Posts: 160
Hi,
i have recently been lucky to be able to collect a large amount of food waste (fruit & veg, often quite lot of bananas/ banana skins) for the composter on my allotment. I'm sure i will have lots of lovely compost before too long, however when i lift the lid to add more, i am plagued by a huge number of flies, swarms! I'm sure they're just fruit flies or similar, but it is very unpleasant.
my guess is i need to add more brown waste, cardboard/ newspaper, twiggy cuttings will this be sufficient or is there something else i should do? i shall i just tolerate and count my blessings when i have heaps of lovely rich compost?
i have been composting for years and do understand the principles, haven't had this prob before so realise it must be a consequence of the fruit waste. expert advice from you lovely GWers gratefully received. 
Posts
I had this earlier in the year, I used the lid of the bin to fan the flies away. The moment you add the carbon that you mention above and turn the contents of the bin, it will help. Basically it is the fructose (?) that they are after so turning the bin will bury it a bit.
thank you both for your advice, much appreciated!