We answer all sorts of vermiculture questions from our customers and I participate on vermi forums to try to help solve problems. Lately, there have been a lot of questions regarding how to get rid of fungus gnats.
Fungus gnats like to live and breed in moist environments. The big key is to maintain your bin so that you are not setting up a hospitable environment for them. Basically, you want to suppress or cut them off from the area that they like. How do you do this?
A few years ago, we had a problem with fungus gnats in our house plants. I covered the top of the dirt with sand. The sand still allowed for water to go through and some air, but the gnats couldn’t. This solved our problem. While this worked for our house plants, I don’t recommend this for your worm bin. There is an easier way to deal with this situation.
Our bins are open at the top. We cover them with burlap and an inch layer of dry shredded newspaper. Instead of burlap, you could use an old cotton t-shirt. This makes it very difficult for the fungus gnats to get to the moist castings and bedding. We also believe that the fungus gnats will “set up house” in moist cardboard. Leaving this on top of the bedding or exposed provides an ideal environment for the gnats.
Here is a comment from Erick, a fellow vermicomposter after he followed our advice:
“As it turns out it was an excellent tip. Just the t-shirt has stopped the current population from expanding and the few stragglers should be gone soon. Awesome results and in so very few days. Thanks again! Ha ha, having a swarm fly out of the bin made it pretty hard to promote the cause to people that have shown some cautious interest, but this definitely helped.”
My first thought was…..I have to protect the house!! But how?….I went into the kitchen and grabbed our bottle of white vinegar, ran out to the front yard…..the dog thought I was crazy….and poured it over the hole they were coming out of. That stopped them dead in their tracks. I didn’t see any more come out of that hole again. And….I did it without using those nasty chemical sprays!! Has anyone else had this problem?
Our next stop was Sea World in San Diego, CA. Even though it was windy and a little cold, we had a blast! We saw a few shows, one of which featured sea lions. We learned that seals, sea lions and walruses are called pinnipeds (from Latin pinna, wing or fin, and ped-, foot) or fin-footed mammals.
The next show that we saw featured the great Killer Whale, Shamu! We enjoyed watching the whales leap out of the water and make huge splashes. The people sitting in the splash zone got really wet, especially when the whales used their flippers and tails to splash them!
Throughout the park they have many exhibits. We saw seals, sea lions, walruses, beluga whales, Commerson’s dolphins, manatees, killer whales, polar bears, sharks, flamingos and fresh and salt water aquariums. 
While we were looking at the dolphins we noticed a sign that read “Access to Child Swap Area”. We told the kids that that was the area where parents swap their children when they are misbehaving. 
….Just kidding! (The color of the photo looks blue/green because of the reflection from the dolphin tank)
We saw an earthworm viewing window and a vermicomposting setup. They also had an active and passive composting exhibit. We were very disappointed though because the vermicomposting and composting exhibits were not maintained. I plan to make a phone call to see if they need our help.
Once a year we take the kids down to Southern California for a vacation. Like all children we know, they love to go to Disneyland. We try to plan our trips so that the girls don’t miss too much school. They only missed 2 1/2 days and we brought their school work with us.
The kids really enjoyed it. It is a little sad for us to see our older daughter growing out of the younger kid rides. She even wants to do rides by herself. Before we know it, she won’t want us there at all. 
Fortunately our youngest still wants to do the little kid rides. Her favorite is the carousel and she made sure that she rode on Mary Poppins’ horse.
I have always been impressed with the Disneyland and California Adventure Parks. You constantly feel as though you have been transported into another part of the World. Each section has its own theme and the decor and plants add to the charm. The rides are clean and kept in great condition. 
Personnel are constantly picking up debris and the staff is knowledgeable and friendly. Recycling containers are conveniently located throughout the park and most of the food containers are made to be biodegradable.
