Composting Bonanza - March 19th - 10:00am

Presentations on Backyard & Business Composting.
Plus, Vermicomposting Workshop - Take home your own worm bin!

Saturday, March 19th 10:00-3:00. NC Cooperative Extension, Jackson Park

Guest Speakers:
Brian Rosa, NCDENR Composting Specialist
Chandler Cummins, Advanced Composting Technologies
Janice Sitton, Good Green Graces
Katie Breckheimer, Blue Ridge BBQ Festival

Cost: $35 for entire Bonanza or $15 for presentations only
Compost Bins will be available for purchase through Henderson County

Pre-registration is required by calling ECO office at (828)692-0385. Space is limited!

Compost and Recycling Workshop

The Haywood County Cooperative Extension Center is sponsoring a series of workshops to encourage individuals to practice composting and recycling techniques.

This series of four workshops is designed to raise awareness of and provide practical ways to recycle and compost much of the trash that is currently being sent to our landfills. As a result of these workshops, participants will learn solid waste management alternatives and their consequences and implement strategies that protect the environment.

Workshops will meet on Thursdays, from 9-12pm starting February 7th at the Haywood County Extension Center. Other dates are February 14, 28 and March 6th. There will not be a meeting on February 21. Each sessioin will focus on different subjects so participants are encouraged to attend all sessions.

Cost for this workshop (all four days) is $10. To Register or for more information contact Erin Freeman at (828)456-3575.

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tsmathew/Registration.pdf

A couple of weeks ago, someone brought several small larvae into the Master Gardener plant clinic. I had never seen this particular insect larvae before so I had to do a little research to identify them. As it turns out, they were Soldier Fly larvae. You have probably seen the adults frequenting flowers in the landscape. Adult flies vary in color from black, metallic blue, green or purple, to brightly colored black and yellow patterns. You can tell that they are flies and not wasps because flies have just two wings, unlike wasps that have four wings. When at rest, the wings are folded scissor-like across their abdomens. Soldier fly larvae are harmless to humans and are great decomposers which was great news to the visitor to our plant clinic considering they found them in their compost bin.

Photo Credit:

Soldier fly, Hermetia illucens Linnaeus

(Diptera: Stratiomyidae), larvae.

Photo by G. McIlveen, Jr.