Ants

[Deleted]

Anyone know if these are the gardeners friend or foe?

I have quite an Army of Ants living in one of the compost bins at the allotment (the plastic dalek type compost bin). They also have eggs.

They seem to be a well organised bunch, the top of the bin is already some lovely,fine (almost ready to use) compost. I did notice they had some of the eggs in a pea pod ;D

Do I leave them to do their Ant business or should I think about evicting them!!

[jean]

If you have ants nesting in your compost GH its too dry - a good watering and mixing should get sort it. Friend or foe not sure as they do break down alot of organic matter but nesting no, I would get rid of them. I do feel sorry for them this year as there hasn't been any really warm days for the queens to take flight, watch out first hot day and there will be swarms of them

[Deleted]

They seem to have taken such great care over the eggs too. I shall have to evict them if having them nest is no good......

If I uncover the bin, give it a good turn about and spread the contents out do you think the birds may eat the eggs? Or any other suggestion?

Not sure I'll see a hot day this summer, so the Queen could be about for some time ;D

[jean]

I'd just give it a good stir and water it well that should do the trick. I had an ants nest under a piece of drain pipe at the lottie last year, there were so many of them they can get amongst the roots of your plants and cause damage. I hate killing things but an ants nest in your compost means its too dry and not heating up enough - otherwise they wouldn't be there. Perhaps a good dose of grass clippings on top would raise the temperature.

[isabella]

We had an 'ant wekend ' last week jlottie

s50.photobucket.com/albums/f350/streptocarpus/?action=view¤t=4ccda3e0.flv

Ants always nest in my old watering cans

[jean]

They are amazing creatures and so resiliant, when they swarm they get everywhere

[Juliet]

They are a bit of both - they can help with composting, but they also "farm" aphids, moving them round your plants & protecting them from predators, so you don't want too many in your garden!

For all you ever wanted to know about ants click here!

[Deleted]

Ants don't like mint , I've got some growing near the rose bush and never see an ant there, I've also noticed that they never seem to go near the thyme either, that is not so troublesome with the roots spreading, might be worth a try if they're in the garden and farming the black and green fly. Of course it might be a co incidence but its worth a try.

[Chuckles]

I've come across a couple of nests in the garden this year. One is right across a block paved path which runs in line with the washing line. The other is in one of my small raised beds which has mixed salad leaves in.

Have had a couple of incidents were they have crawled up my trousers and all over my shoes while I'm standing hanging the washing out. Had a couple of nasty bites so once bitten twice shy ;D

Will try your theory Val and plant some Thyme on the edge of the paving and will give the bed a good watering to see if that shifts them

Nice vid isablella, not dared to look at your site link yet Juliet.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone

Juliet that info was very good, Chuckles the link doesn't have any photos!!

I'm off to check out the Ant activity in a moment.

And......I just wondered if anyone knows how the saying 'Ants in your Pants' may have come about?

[Rosefriend]

I always thought that the saying comes from being excited/agitated/unable to sit still.

In reality it is true as I found to my cost as a child when I really did have "ants in my pants".

I don't know whether you have the red ants in the UK but if so get rid of them as they eat the roots of plants.

RF

[Juliet]

Found this on an etymology message board, but it's just posts, so no idea whether they've got the origin right: www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/24/messages/200.html

We have thousands of nests - they are under the patio & in the walls of the house, as well as all over the garden. The other year they even made a nest in my pot of mint, which I had put next to the patio doors to try to stop them coming in

You can get ant nematodes from Greengardener: www.greengardener.co.uk/repel.htm

[Pip]

The first year that we moved into our house, which is many many years ago now we had ants in the Lounge. What a mess that was. I am afraid I do use ant poison these days unless they are at the back of the garden where they really can't do any harm.

Pip

[Deleted]

Juliet - Thanks for that second link, I've learnt something new today as I'd never heard of the expression 'Antsy' meaning nervous.

I have delt with them, gave it all a really good stir about and watered it.....couldn't resist taking a photo before I did it though, the compost at the top of the bin was so fine I'm sure I could have used it straight away (minus the ants ), and I had to include the peapod nest

Apologies to the Squimish

[isabella]

YUK!!!

Very interesting though

YUK !!!