Ants in compost
 

Took the lid off one of my compost bins
to day and found it overrun with ants.
Never seen so many ants in one place.
They seem to be doing a good job in there
and chomping the contents into a fine powdery
soil.
The question is, should I leave them alone or will
they do any harm.??
Although I hate ants I feel inclined to leave them to
carry on with what they are doing.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Wally

Ants in compost
 

"Wally" wrote in message
...
Took the lid off one of my compost bins
to day and found it overrun with ants.
Never seen so many ants in one place.
They seem to be doing a good job in there
and chomping the contents into a fine powdery
soil.
The question is, should I leave them alone or will
they do any harm.??
Although I hate ants I feel inclined to leave them to
carry on with what they are doing.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Wally

The fact that you have ants in there indicates that your compost is too
dry, but they will will do no harm.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

Ants in compost
 

In article ,
]"Emrys Davies" writes:
| "Wally" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Although I hate ants I feel inclined to leave them to
| carry on with what they are doing.
|
| The fact that you have ants in there indicates that your compost is too
| dry, but they will will do no harm.

Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
harm in the garden, generally.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Ants in compost
 

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
]"Emrys Davies" writes:
| "Wally" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Although I hate ants I feel inclined to leave them to
| carry on with what they are doing.
|
| The fact that you have ants in there indicates that your compost is too
| dry, but they will will do no harm.

Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
harm in the garden, generally.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Ants in compost
 

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
]"Emrys Davies" writes:
| "Wally" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Although I hate ants I feel inclined to leave them to
| carry on with what they are doing.
|
| The fact that you have ants in there indicates that your compost is too
| dry, but they will will do no harm.

Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
harm in the garden, generally.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Totally agree

Ants in compost
 

On 16/7/08 08:23, in article ,
"Robert (Plymouth)" wrote:



"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
]"Emrys Davies" writes:
| "Wally" wrote in message
| ...
|
| Although I hate ants I feel inclined to leave them to
| carry on with what they are doing.
|
| The fact that you have ants in there indicates that your compost is too
| dry, but they will will do no harm.

Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
harm in the garden, generally.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Totally agree

I think it's worth pointing that, AFAIK, they do no harm, don't carry
disease etc. I realise - as one who has experienced it often - that it's
not pleasant to find a soup plate sized gang of them on the carpet but while
they might nip you if you sit on a nest, they're not unsanitary!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Ants in compost
 

Nick Maclaren wrote:

Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
harm in the garden, generally.


I tend to agree, but they can be a nuisance when they start farming aphids,
and protect them from predators.

And they can be quite destructive when they decide to nest in pots which
contain sandy soil for plants which need good drainage. Unfortunately, they
tend to increase the drainage rather a lot by removing most of the sand! So
much so that the first you know of it is when the leaves look decidedly
parched, or the pot falls over because it has become top heavy.


--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

Ants in compost
 

In article ,
"Jeff Layman" writes:
|
| Yup. And I suggest learning to love ants - they do more good than
| harm in the garden, generally.
|
| I tend to agree, but they can be a nuisance when they start farming aphids,
| and protect them from predators.

It's rarely a significant factor, and never a dominating one. I used
to have lots of ants, but the recent sodden winters have reduced the
number of nests by a factor of ten or more. There has been no change
in the number and severity of aphid infestations - in fact, they have
got worse :-( And there is no correlation in my garden between aphid
problems on plants visited by ants and ones not so visited. Even the
research that showed a correlation didn't show a dominant one.

But I agree that it is a nuisance when it happens.

| And they can be quite destructive when they decide to nest in pots which
| contain sandy soil for plants which need good drainage. Unfortunately, they
| tend to increase the drainage rather a lot by removing most of the sand! So
| much so that the first you know of it is when the leaves look decidedly
| parched, or the pot falls over because it has become top heavy.

It can happen if you let it go too far, but the first sign is usually
a lot of sand around the pot! I have had several such pots with ants
in, and it made little difference to the plants - but I annoyed the
ants by soaking the pots a few times, and they moved.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.