compost bin - overrun with ants

maesi

My compost bin is overun with ants any advice please. We are new to all this and do not know if this will effect new plants if I put the compost on the garden.

bella165

pour hot water in it that will kill them then fork it over to disturb the nest and then pour some more boiling water in ther it will haslo speed your compost along

Lord_Gardener

maesi wrote: »

My compost bin is overun with ants any advice please. We are new to all this and do not know if this will effect new plants if I put the compost on the garden.

Ants are taking up 'residence' because the conditions in your compost bin are ideal for them. One of the best ways of dealing with ants is to regularly disturb the contents of your bin by turning the compost. NB ants will not live in regularly disturbed soil or compost. Also, they will not harm your plants when you spread the compost on the garden

powershopper

I have three Dalek type compost bins, and am pretty sucessful at producing compost for the veges and delphiniums, but for the first time ever today I noticed a pretty rampant ants nest in the "in use" bin. I gave the contents a bit of a stir to keep the blighters on their toes, but wondered if they really do ane harm, will nature see them off, will they do any harm to the lovely worms who usually reside in the bin, or will I have to resort to violence to be rid of them?
anyone had a similar problem and could impart a few words of wisdom?

Chazpots

Hi Powershopper,

Compost bins are perfect conditions for ants! You've done the right things by stirring up the contents. Keep doing this on a regular basis...they will not like the disturbance and will (hopefully) clear off before long..

All the greenfingered best....

Chaz

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

You'll be popular with the local bird population with all that food scuttling around. I'd personally draw the line at giant nasty wood ants, but the others do seem to create a beautiful friable soil...

spakkker

Hi - I've read that ants in compost are a sign that the compost is too dry - this is better than too wet as it is easy to moisten the pile. Also a lot of people say that this is a perfect use for urine, rather than flushing it away!

powershopper

Thanks for all the comments, perhaps I"ll leave the lid off for a wet day or so, or even give it a bucket of water, or even persuade OH to go down the garden last thing at night..........................

kprice580

I dont have a compost bin (yet) but i am snided with ants on my garden, I'm sick of getting bitten!!
How can I get rid of them or can't I!

Cheers Katy x x

bella165

spakkker wrote: »

Hi - I've read that ants in compost are a sign that the compost is too dry - this is better than too wet as it is easy to moisten the pile. Also a lot of people say that this is a perfect use for urine, rather than flushing it away!

you can only use mens urine tho as ours dont contain the same,get you son/hubby to doit in a bottle and when its cooled down mix it in

vermin_munky

Water the urine down. neat is to strong.