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#1
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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 |
#2
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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. |
#3
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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. |
#4
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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. |
#5
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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 |
#7
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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) |
#8
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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. |
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