Ants in abundance in compost
 

Group:

Live in Sunny (wet!) SoCal. This my first year composting. The compost is
lookingreally good, but the only problem is that I have huge numbers of ants
infesting the compost. Is this good or bad? If the latter, should I
somehow treat the compost - with what?

Cheers

Den

Insects are good for the compost. They help break materials down and
spread bacteria and spores. You compost pile may be too dry or not
large enough? A good pile is at least one cubic yard, less than that
the pile can decrease the decompostion rate. Turning the pile helps
and will discourage ants. I use a D-handle pitch fork to turn the
compost.

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 23:22:51 GMT, "Den" wrote:

Group:

Live in Sunny (wet!) SoCal. This my first year composting. The compost is
lookingreally good, but the only problem is that I have huge numbers of ants
infesting the compost. Is this good or bad? If the latter, should I
somehow treat the compost - with what?

Cheers

Den

Compost is too dry, turn and moisten it to be like a wet but not drippy
sponge and the ants will seek other quarters.