grubs | Crazy About Compost

Bottomless pit composter?… or just a lot of grubs?

I thought i was overdue on starting my second trash can composter... the first one has had a bottomless pit for the last few months. I was certain it would have been at capacity awhile ago, but then I took a closer look. Not only were there a ton of red wigglers in there breaking it down, but also gobs and gobs of grubs- excellent! They've been a huge help for sure- the pile has been steadily cooking along at a mellow 80 to 90 degrees since its inception, which wouldn't be hot enough to break down the contents so swiftly. Once the temperature drops a bit more, I'm going to try transferring as many of the worms over to the big pile as I can...hoping that it's thick enough…

Grubs in my Compost?

What an interesting critter. There's TONS of 1" long grubs in my current active pile, but there were none to be found in my finished compost pile... or so I thought. I found two of these guys... they're closer to 1.5" and have nearly transparent rear ends. The orange heads are pretty trippy. Are they good or bad? I don't really care. Compost piles are ecosystems and they're clearly eating the decaying organic matter in there... nothing wrong with that.

Grubs in the Compost!

So I was checking out my balcony compost today, and I found a bunch of crinkly white critters in there...how did they get in there? What are they? Are they helpful or hurtful to my composting efforts? I'm pretty sure these are grubs (japanese beetles?). Grubs are considered a terror in the garden, but in the compost pile they definitely lend a hand in breaking down the waste. Especially since my balcony compost setup is a "cold compost" effort, I have no problem with these little guys spending time here to help. Any of you out there finding these in your composting efforts?