So every evening when I take the day's fruit peelings, etc out to the compost I dump the contents from one 50 gallon barrel into another and back again. These bugs started flying out and I just about peed my pants! They weren't aggressive, but seemed as startled by me as I was by them. They're about an inch or so long (and may explain why I'd seen these meal worm looking dudes in the compost. Their legs were white with black stripes (fancy stockings!).

It looks like trout food to me!

yu k Crista! I am not a fan.

Funny, Dan, my husband said the same thing! Hook one of those through the back and Mr. Trout would want a bite!

Yeh, I'm not a big fan either, Boo, what with a flock of them flying out at me! They've moved on, so to speak, and thankfully are no longer flying out of of the barrels. Whew!

I wonder what they are? First I thought maybe baby cicadas but they have a pointy rear end and wider faces to go with those big buggy eyes...

Do we have a bug ID place here?

Here you go!
http://cubits.org/buglife/

Thanks for finding the bug cubit, Boo! Geez, those people are really into bugs! I posted by compost bug over there -- we'll see what they say!

Let us know! I don't visit the cubit unless I need to....bugs are not my friends.

Aw, c'mon! Bugs keep our gardens in a good balance --- they ARE our friends! I've worked really hard (really, really hard) at ignoring wasps when I'm out in the garden because I know they are eating bad bugs off my plants. There are kinds of weird larva and bugs in my compost (ick) but they eat the stuff, have poops and either die or fly away...all enriching the compost. Good bugs under the straw I use to mulch helping to break stuff down into nutrients the plants can use. Keep repeating, "It's all good."

I do wage war against ants (who sting and seem to be associated with my plants dying), and grape leaf skeletonizers.

I'm curious, too, Crista. They look like some kind of fly, what with those big eyes and wings. It's strange sometimes what creatures show up - and why. My neighbor right next door has horse flies in her house! There are no horses anywhere around here - and the flies don't come over here. Go figure.

LOL Alma...

Crista - for the ants, I sprinkle instant grits in their anthill. They eat the grits, the grits swell and the ants die. I hate them even though they don't seem to bother my plants. They farm aphids, so I know to look for aphids if I see a lot of ants suddenly on my plants. They are pollinators, though not as beneficial as bees and wasps. But they like to bite my dogs and me, so they gotts go! I use the grits so as to not poison my pups...

That's what I do too Crista, and it works for me, but I've had people outright call me a liar when I say that grits work. Nice to see it's working for someone else too!!

Alan

Hey, I'm getting grits! I use Amdro for non food use parts of the yard and then put a heavy pot on top of the Amdro. Leave it for a week, dust off the bottom of the pot and have found that the Amdro is gone as well as the ants. I am scared to death of poisoning my dogs so I don't pull out the big guns unless I've got a heavy pot available to put on top of it. Grits sounds sooo much better and now I can go after the ants in the garden!

No word yet from folks on the bug cubit.

Cinnamon will work too, but I find the ants become almost immune to it after a while. I don't think it kills them - just repels them. The grits definitely work. I get a sick pleasure watching those little suckers carrying the little grits back to their lair - lol. After a day or two, no ant activity in the area. Don't sprinkle them if it's wet though - defeats the purpose of the grits expanding in the ant bellies...

Crista - are you still on DG? Those bug ID peeps there are good. Not sure how many of them are here that are/were on DG. If you're not still on DG and you don't get an answer on your bug, with your permission I can post your pic over there and try for an ID...

Ah ha! We have here a Black Soldier Fly, commonly found in wetlands and....compost! Janet, over on the Bug ID forum that you directed me to Boo, is an excellent reseacher and also found this article about using this species to reduce the biomass of waste. http://translate.google.co.uk/...

Facinating stuff!

Ah-ha! So it is a fly. Can't be fooled by those eyes. I need to see if there are any in my compost.

Cool - I figured like Alma it had to be a fly with those big 'ol eyes - lol...

You see, cubits is full of answers!

Okay, it's not bugs or insects that I dislike in themselves...I love some of them. lady bugs, praying mantis, fire flies, butterflies, dragonflies. It's when they jump on me that I freak. I even like bees...no fear of them. I ignore them and they ignore me.

I hate wasps...they are scary. And roaches. ugh

Oh yeah - roaches are nasty - eeeeeewwwwwwwwww... And I don't like those big pincher beetle things that are all over right now. They look like they could hurt me - lol. And I really don't like ants all that much - they bite and they hurt and I usually don't see them until it's too late when I'm rummaging around and weeding - lol...

I bought ant traps and nailed them to my porch so the ants would stop fooling with the hummers sugar water. It worked too!