Ants Nest in Compost Bin

Hi - new to "grow-your-own" gardening this year and have been trying to compost using one of the black plastic bin type composters. When I look in the bin now I have a huge ants nest taking over most of the bin. I notice there are similar threads on here regarding flies and woodlice. What do I do about the ants and the ants nest? Destroy the nest? Surely I don't want to be adding ants or the nest to the veg plots?

Many thanks in advance for any help/ suggestions.

Lee

 

Thanks John - appreciate the reply. My worry is that I'm using one of those plastic compost bins you pick up from the garden centre (300 litres??) and the nest is taking up most of the bin. As I remove the compost, I don't want to take the ants with it. I'll try wetting it and turning it over to start with I think.

Cheers,

Lee

 

The ants will actually be doing the composting work for you. They aerate, break-down and even digest much of the material in the compost and will also encourage a range of beneficial fungi, that in turn help the composting process and your soil once the compost is added to the garden. As JWK says, they can be a symptom of having too dry a heap - simply because they won't set up home in the wet, for obvious reasons, so keep an eye on moisture levels, but otherwise I would leave well alone. If they are still there hen the time comes to use the compost - and they may well not be - then thoroughly wetting the whole thing will move them on easily enough.

 

Hi,

Just a little feedback for all that helped and read this topic. I watered the compost and turned it over. Ants have all gone.

[In fact, as Palmatum suggests, I think they may have already left before I did that as the weather became damper at the start of autumn. My real problem and the largest ant nest was during the summer months when I obviously wasn't keeping an eye on the moisture levels.]

Thanks again all,

Lee