I was passing by my pile of finished compost this morning, and noticed for the first time that quite a lot of termites had started living in the pile. Termites? Yes, definitely termites. Who knew? An internet search reveals that termites like finished compost or compost that contains woody materials or just plain cellulose. I don't use woody materials, but the compost is definitely finished and there must be some cellulose in there, too.

I don't see any advice online about what I can do about termites in compost, beside put insecticide on the pile. Huh? Insecticide on this beautiful compost that I worked almost a year to make? For lack of a better idea (and time this morning), I turned the upper part of the pile, to at least upset the termites' plans temporarily.

Fortunately there is very little wood in the construction of my rented house, although termites really tore into a previous wooden place I lived at. So I'm not very worried about my house, more about the beautiful compost, now with termites. I don't plan to use it until October (which is the start of vegetable growing season here), and then only gradually, so spreading it into a garden now isn't really an option I have.

Does anyone have any experience or advice about this? Thank you for any information.

-MerryStem