Ants are they pants ?

[Dalrimple]

I dug out a Darlek compost bin today and it was an ants nest from top to bottom and is the finest compost that iv'e seen ,everything seems to be dead no worms ,woodlice ,slugs or snails only empty shells, so the question is will it be any good as compost to use under my potatoes ?
atb Dal .

[Snoop Puss]

Is it still full of ants, out of interest?

[Jay-ell]

The ants will scram once you start digging it out and disturbing them. The compost should be fine.

Last year I disturbed a few ants nests in The New Territories when I took on that plot - soil was really fine tilth in the bit of the bed the ants nest was. Pumpkin grew well (OK, that might have also been the fresh horse much but the point is there were no bed effects from growing in an ants ness)

Remembers that ants produce frass as well.

[Dalrimple]

Is it still full of ants, out of interest?

yes it was when I came away from the alotment , I got five wheel barrow loads out of it and tipped it out in piles at the side of the trenches iv'e dug out for the spuds, Iv'e just googled frass sounds like it should do some good, will the formic acid be ok with spuds (might not need vinegar on the chips lol) atb Dal

[Jay-ell]

Keep stirring the piles of compost to make sure the ants go - that will make sure that they get the hint and move their nest.

The formic acid is used as an attack and squirted at whatever they think is a threat - I don't think they see a potato as threatening. Birds have an activity called anting to get the ants to cover them with the acid to remove parasites.

[Penellype]

Ants like warm, dry soil - it sounds as though your compost has got a bit dry. If it looks rotted it will be fine to use, and the ants will have chewed it up nicely for you. If you don't want an ants nest in your potatoes, keep them well watered and the ants will move away somewhere else.

[flynch]

Ants are great until my fruit starts to ripen then they become enemy number one (at least in my garden). Great for compost and airating the soil though