"Snooze" wrote in message
om...

wrote in message
...
I'm in GA, not the fire-ants or carpenter I'm sure. Small blackish-red
ones might have been brown. I think my mom called them **** ants (sorry)
when I was little although they may be argentine.

Google seems to suggest that **** ants is slang for sugar ants.
http://pestcontrolsupplies.com/SugarAnts.htm


Oh my I just read the link you sent. They must be the worse kind to have
anywhere must less a compost pile. I hope they don't get in my house!

Out here in california, we often get Argentina ants, they invade the house
when it rains in the winter and their nests get flooded, and in midsummer.
Leave even a small piece of food on the counter or floor and you'll know
right away.


Will this fripinol pesticide damage plants later you think when/if I
can
use it? I would sure hate to lose it. It's my last pile for the summer.

Different ants accept different pesticides/baits. Combat Ant Gel is a
little
syringe of a sugar and pesticide gel.
You only need to put a few dabs down. If you're concerned, take an old
glazed tile, or maybe a soda can that has been cut in half, and squeeze
out
a few dabs in it., put that in the shade near the compost pile. The scout
ants will find it soon enough.

If you can't find it at your local home depot, try this.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQT5IG

Another good pesticide is hydramethylnon


I read boiling water might work but when I turned the pile they were
everywhere. I can see myself running back and forth with boiling water
through the house. A pretty site I don't think. It must be a very large
colony but I didn't stay long enough to count them. The whole inside of
my
compost was moving. yuck. And I thought fire ants were the worse we had
going.

I'm not too big on the boiling water method, that requires me to navigate
from the kitchen to the yard with a large pot of scalding hot water...i'm
too clumsy.

Then you have to ask yourself, does it really matter if they're happy in
the
compost pile? Live and let live? If it's far enough away from the house,
let
them be, they're doing a job that nature intended for them.

in the garden ants are one of a number of anthropods that do an useful tasks
for us. In the house they can be a nuisance (I find anyway) yet outside they
do us some favours we may never realise. I have slaters and millipedes in my
compost from time to time. I don't much like them however they are busy
doing something there so I leave them be. Eventually they move on when
whatever work they are doing is done. According to the info I have
anthropods shred organic material increasing the surface area for bacteria
and fungi to work (they act as organic can openers). Apparently they eat
bacteria with their food and then shit the bacteria out all over the place.
Bacteria can't move that far, anthropods do it for them. Their poo is also
high in nutrients (similar to worms) and they help the porosity of soils.

As a suggestion, do some research on what ants may be doing in the compost
before you kill them. If you find they are of some benefit you may leave
them or you still have the ability to kill them.

rob