Lolol. Fish emulsions have a bio-inhibiter that prevents bacterial growth when they're at full strength concentrations - to prevent bacterial meltdown. As soon as you dilute it, the inhibitors are no longer powerful enough to prevent ..... rotting. ;o) Experience is the best teacher, so it's said. (o; Al

I've found that the BSF maggots create the moisture via their effluent and that BSF maggots themselves appearing aren't a sign of too much moisture. My compost is in a vented rotating barrel and pretty much always has BSF maggots, no matter what I do. I've just accepted them. I have noticed a few things--they're great at breaking stuff down and my compost rots much faster than before. They make effluent so make sure you're either filling the compost with dry stuff constantly or have a place for the fluid to drain. I keep a bucket under mine and dump the liquid on my fruit trees, they love it. The buggers can survive sitting in the tub in the sun in the summer in Arizona. As long as you turn the compost a few times a week it doesn't go anaerobic. I use the compost with the maggots in it just fine, it has never damaged my plants. The maggots have a distinct smell they create that kinda makes me gag but if the compost smells like vinegar or crazy putrid rot from a distance, you need to start draining the liquid and aerating. So, weird smell when in touching distance, yes. Terrible smell everyone notices, no. And, I've never noticed swarms of flies in my area. Pretty sure I'm helping support the local bird and lizard population with all the maggots.

This thread is hilarious and informative at the same time! Thank you all for the laughs and the knowledge! My experience with fish emulsion goes like this. I’ve been growing bonsai for many years and have more than I want to talk about. Some are pretty old and my treasures. When we moved from the big city to the country, we of course brought every single plant and bonsai! We had four box trucks jammed full of plants and one for the house stuff. I carefully arranged each bonsai on their little stands so they’d all look just right even if we were the only ones that could see them. I started the repotting process soon thereafter and of course...used fish emulsion to give them all a boost. The next day, I go back to check on my “babies” and stood there in shock! Thinking the worst about some human vandalism or theft, I notice that each plant had been uprooted and holes had been dug in every pot. Little hand like prints and tracks are all over the place, I follow the trail of destruction to a boggy area near a creek. There lie the remains of several larger bonsai, the fish emulsion bottle and even the bucket! A few choice words later and some tears too, I gathered the survivors and repotted them. Most survived with some very interesting new shapes but I certainly learned my lesson. Fish emulsion is great stuff but never use it if you even suspect that you have raccoons.

Yep thats what I do too Mike and every few weeks I give them a foliar spray of compost tea early in the morning. Daniella, I buy my compost tea at an organic nursery already made up but I got the stuff to do it myself now and saw on the garden show how to do it using an old panty hose leg or cheesecloth to hold the compost then you don't have to strain it. I mix the fish emulsion with this when I spray. I don't always have time to go do all that individually to all the plants so I just do it when I have the time.