Gnats in my compost trash can

The black can has LOTS of 1/2" holes in it, top, bottom, sides. I filled it with anything from the garden that is trimmed off or pulled up -- not diseased, just done. Plus veggie scraps from the kitchen. Plus the soilless mix from some of last years' annuals. Plus a bag of withered clementines my neighbor gave me -- chopped into eighths.

Now I have gnats.

This is my vegetable garden compost. My flower garden compost -- and there is a distinct difference, I even LABELED them -- has dog poo and fresh grass clippings and straw in equal parts, and oddly even with the dog poo, no gnats and no smell. And I never water it because there are no lids so it rains in the compost bins and the dog poo and grass clippings are already moist.

I'm thinking my veggie garden composter has too many greens and not enough browns -- would last year's oak leaves chopped finely help? Straw? And I have a LOT of horse stall leavings I could add for good microbes and bacteria?

Suggestions before I dump it in to a wheel barrow, stir and shovel back into the trashcann composter with ________?

I use fallen mowed oak leaves in mine. They make up the bulk of my compost. Can't say about the other stuff your asking about as I don't have them available to me, but someone will be along to let you know.

CC

ETNRedClay wrote:

. . . . .

Now I have gnats.
. . . . .

I'm thinking my veggie garden composter has too many greens and not enough browns -- would last year's oak leaves chopped finely help? Straw? And I have a LOT of horse stall leavings I could add for good microbes and bacteria?

Suggestions before I dump it in to a wheel barrow, stir and shovel back into the trashcann composter with ________?

You are right, ETNRedClay.
If you cannot get any browns, try shredded newsprint (black print and no shiny stuff), shredded cardboard, grey egg cartons and make sure the top of the heap is covered so that insects cannot lay eggs.