RE: flies in my Gindal Worms!

["Tim Ellis" <timellis@ev1.net>]

What do you do about red spider mites? 

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-apisto@v2.listbox.com [mailto:owner-apisto@v2.listbox.com]On
Behalf Of Ken Simolo
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 8:43 AM
To: apisto@v2.listbox.com
Subject: Re: flies in my Gindal Worms!


Hi Alan,

I recently had this problem with a culture I ordered so I finally 
decided to get rid of the flies.  I do not remember who originally 
said to flame the soil but it works.  I set the culture uncovered 
outside in the sun to drive most of the grindals down into the 
"soil".  Scare away any adult flies and then picked out any obvious 
groups of maggots.  Check the sides of the container and the lid for 
adults and maggots (I did not find any maggots on these surfaces). 
Next, I flamed the surface of the soil with a propane torch (and 
slightly distorted the sides of the container in a few spots!).  I 
found it easiest to hold the culture on edge so the soil is running 
up and down when flaming.  I definitely flamed some maggots I had 
originally missed.  Recover the culture making sure you do not let 
any adult flies back in.  Rewet the surface and feed the culture. 
The culture was back up  to full strength in two days.   A week and a 
half later, still no flies.  This worked much more quickly for me 
than reculturing and waiting for the culture to get back up to 
strength.

Ken

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