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Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 11:31
| I am gearing up to transfer a half-cooked pile into its waiting trench, with cardboard on the bottom and mulch on top. This trench has worked very well - I did it first last Spring, and having uncovered it last week, I found decent soil, nary a recognizable scrap, and a worm! Not thick black gold, but better than the construction rubble that is my garden. So off to do it again, I find that my pile is teeming with bazillions of little black ants (yes, that bite). I have been finding them all over the garden, anywhere I put my shovel, and they have huge collections of eggs. I was wondering if I transfer the half-done pile into the trench, will the ants come along and overtake my garden more than ever? Or will they get buried, get too hot and decide to move elsewhere? Is this a seasonal thing, where they do their egg bustle, before winter? We never freeze, very rarely frost, and get rain (hopefully) from sometime this month to Easter, then hot and dry until fall again. The rains haven't really started. I've poured boiling water over nests, but can't do that in a grwoing garden. I have no weay to judge how hot my pile gets short of sticking my hand in, but with all of the ants I am very loathe to do that. Any suggestions? Thanks....... |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Large numbers of ants are usually an indication that the pile is too dry. To encourage them to leave the pile, moisten and turn it or stir it with a pitchfork to disrupt their colonies. repeat every few days... NOTE - moisten, NOT flood your pile... you still want it to cook. |
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| That's odd, because there are also a lot of soldier fly larvae, meaning it's too moist! A good mix up with the pitchfork, though, easy enough. I just wanted to get it all into the trench before I leave for the States Wed. night for two weeks. If not, not, it could wait, I suppose. Any other thoughts? |
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| Ants like loose soil& compost, as well as the heat. |
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| Too late now, as I'm flying to the States tonight so the little buggers will have to either contribute to the breakdown or find a new home without me. I do hope they'll have moved on in two weeks. I'll let you know if not! |
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