Ants in compost bin - good or bad?

Hi everyone

I made hubby turn the compost over a bit today (it's in a round black compost bin, the kind the council subsidise, with a slot at the bottom and a lid). Turns out everything in there is HEAVING with ants. Are they good or bad for the composting process? There were also lots of worms, which I take it is a good sign. If ants are bad, what should I do about it?

Here's what I don't understand though: by turning what's on the inside with a fork we obviously aerate it, which is good. But it also means that this week's tea bags and things end up much forther down, where the breaking down had already happened. So when I come to open the little door in the autumn, how do I separate the recently added and not yet composted waste from the good stuff?

 

Rosie, because you are continually addind to this type of bin, you don`t turn the compost. As you add at the top so the material lower down is composting. Hence the little door to get the compost out. As for the ants, they are not doing any harm, as such, and anything you used to kill them would probably affect the worms, too.

 

:D...You should see Mrs Pal jumping around when the ants in our bins run onto her hands fron under the lid:D...and the language:eek:...:D

 

Rosie, I've got one of those bins and as dai says, you don't have to turn it. To aerate it I stick a cane down to the bottom in several places and wiggle it about. That seems to do the trick.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone. So I won't worry about the ants, and I'll leave the bin itself alone from now on, and only poke in little holes with a cane. I wonder how long it'll take for all the things which we have now stirred into the bottom layers to break down too? I was hoping to be able to use at least some of it this autumn- maybe I won't be so lucky.

Paladin, OH was still wriggling about an hour later, claiming he was crawling with ants ...

 

Yes just leave it alone and let the worms get on with it Rosie, they'll work their way up and scoff the new stuff as you add it. You don't even need to poke holes down it. You'll probably find that you can dig out compost from the base in three or four months - though this depends on how much you feed into it.

 

some say ants are not a prob .. yes i would agree with that in a compost bin.
but wot type of ants are they ?

would i be correct in thinking that if the ants are of the harvest type (the ones that harvest green and black fly). would that be bad to use the compost on your garden

i seem to rember reading somthing about ants and green fly

 

sorry i ment aphids

found somthing that could put light on the subject
http://www.antnest.co.uk/diet.html

:eek:
i knew i was on the correct track
just forgot wot pest they harvested

 

this site tells you about ants in compost bn.

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/useful_info/compost_bin.html

 

Glad I joined and found this!!

I was becoming really worried that my black plastic compost bin was crawling with ants too - they all come running out the door when I add stuff to the heap!!

I am also glad that I found this because I didn't realise you didn't have to turn these compost heaps!! What a bonus as it is quite an effort to try and do it without ending up covered in ants!!

So hello and thank you!!

Kx

 

I actually invested in a Compost Aerator!! I mean, instead of just pushing a stick in and wiggling it about, which would have been quite sufficient!!

but it's true that I am getting as much compost as I need now...I just LOVE my compost bin!

 

I pampered my compost bin today - added leaves, some potato soil, grass cuttings and manure - a good layer of each, it must be full up!!

And last night I used my bamboo cane and pocked some holes in it, I also took some pics of the ants house in my compost bin which I only discovered yesterday behind the hatch:







Is that compost I've made or have they brought that soil up from the ground?

Kx