white moth things

[green fingers]

I have one of the plastic type compost bins and have noticed there are some strange moth type insects flying out whenever I open the lid. When I say some I mean hundreds. They are grey/white in colour and around the size of a winged greenfly with flat wings that lay on their backs much like a moths.

Any ideas what they could be and are they harmful to my upcoming veggie patch?

Wendy.

[Lesley Jay]

They are fruit flies and quite harmless Wendy. Just cover the contents of the compost bin with a light sprinkling of soil each time they appear and that should get rid of them.

[fivespud364]

they sound like whitefly to me ??

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by fivespud364

they sound like whitefly to me ??

One year one of our compost bins was absolutely full of clouds of white flies and Geordie told me they were fruit flies.

[whitedragon]

if the look like this then they are white flies
http://www.africancrops.net/rockefel...te%20flies.jpg

[green fingers]

They do look like the picture white dragon. Are they harmful?

[whitedragon]

not to humans or animals but if you get them in your greenhouse or in your garden they

will wipe out a crop but there are lots of treatments on the market to get rid of them