Ants in my compost!

PeteW

Hiya, I've just found that a bag of compost in my greenhouse is full of ants! Bloody hundreds of the !!!!!!s! Is this a problem? Can I still use the compost or will the ants harm my seeds/plants?

Pete

Jake'sGran

In my experience ants don't harm planst. I thought you had them in a compost bin when I saw your post. This is where I have seen them in the past but there was a tip on one of the forums about adding a jug of water to the compost as they don't like being wet. It seemed to work. I have an idea that if they have been happy in a bag and then you spread the stuff around the garden they will probably go elsewhere or die - not sure really, but worth a try. Or you could just dump the compost in your green bin if they have them where you live.

shelovestobuystuff

My compost bin is alive with ants.I dont think they will do any harm,it just makes my skin crawl to see them when I lift the lid.
I will try adding water to it and see if they move out.Or I could just get OH to add the kitchen scraps to the composter as he doesnt mind the ants at all.

Davesnave

Ants are no problem at all in compost. They won't stay in the stuff once you use it.

pingua

But would they perhaps make their way into the house??

I_luv_cats

They might make there way to your pants!!!!

Some ants follow water so if you have had a leak the ants might follow it. Often ants have a trail to my kitchen.

Jake'sGran

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

My compost bin is alive with ants.I dont think they will do any harm,it just makes my skin crawl to see them when I lift the lid.
I will try adding water to it and see if they move out.Or I could just get OH to add the kitchen scraps to the composter as he doesnt mind the ants at all.

No, no -no kitchen scraps. The only things that should be put into a compost bin are things that once grew or that came from something that once grew e.g. paper. If you have a look at some other posts you will see that rats are becoming a problem in some areas and I believe this happens when people put the wrong things on compost bins/heaps - things like meat scraps and many cooked things attract them. Ours contains only old plants and compost, grass cuttings, tea bags, vegetable peelings, newspaper etc and occasionally, urine which is a great accelerator.

Lotus-eater

Jake'sGran wrote: »

If you have a look at some other posts you will see that rats are becoming a problem in some areas and I believe this happens when people put the wrong things on compost bins/heaps - things like meat scraps and many cooked things attract them. Ours contains only old plants and compost, grass cuttings, tea bags, vegetable peelings, newspaper etc and occasionally, urine which is a great accelerator.

Not true I'm afraid, veg peelings, tea bags, egg shells, any of those will attract rats into your bin, not to mention that a nice warm dry home will do the same. Of course if your neighbour puts something more attractive in her compost bin, they will go there instead.
I always advocate wire under the bin, it works very well and stops any problems, or possible problems. It's about time they started giving away wire bottoms with the plastic black compost bins.
But then I suppose many of the people who want one, will go "Eeek Rats!" etc etc and not bother getting one.

Davesnave

Jake'sGran wrote: »

Ours contains only old plants and compost, grass cuttings, tea bags, vegetable peelings, newspaper etc and occasionally, urine which is a great accelerator.

As the ex-owner of a motor cycle, who was unfortunate enough to have a drunk pee in his petrol tank, I can tell you urine does nothing for acceleration!:rotfl:

On a serious note, is it supposed to be man pee, or is that something else I'm thinking about?

Lotus-eater

It was traditionally man pee, but I think modern thinking has moved on and it doesn't matter who it comes from. Bob Flowerdew stated that it is better for the compost after drinking cider, but I think that's just because he really likes cider

Only get man pee in mine btw my OH won't oblige me. Mind you my DD does sometimes, much to everyone else's amusement.

What did it do to your bike Dave? I hope you didn't try to run it like that.

Davesnave

What did it do to your bike Dave? I hope you didn't try to run it like that.

It went as far as the fuel in the float chamber of the carb lasted, then fizzled to a stop.

It was only after I'd been working on it for a couple of hours that someone in the know put me out of my perplexity. I was so relieved to have the problem solved, I almost forgave the miscreant. Well, it was that and relief that I hadn't begun siphoning the 'dud' fuel out, as one usually got a half a mouthful of petrol when performing that operation!:eek: