Yikes, ant compost pile, help

I do a lot of composting -or should I say try to. Guess I didn't do something right this time, because my compost pile is one big ant nest.(fire ants) I have never seen so many ants in one place. What can I do to correct it? How can I get rid of the ants? Wasn't sure about putting any ant granuals on it if that would then affect when I redo it. I did put granuals around the outside of the pile for now. I used a lot of fine hardwood (oak)mulch with grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, some manure which I have another pile with the same and it is hot as a pistol, so there aren't any ants in it. Never had this happen before. Any suggestions?

I have a friend in Florida that had the same problem, but instead of contaminating his compost with chemical pesticides (even though now it has been found that orange peel terpenes are the best fire ant control) he just watered the heck out of the pile for a few weeks. It actually sped up his compost and the ants vamoosed. It's still a mystery where they went, maybe yours will go to Oklahoma...lol.

LOL Oklahoma is quite a distance, and heck if they are going to go that far wish they would go south--to the ocean!
I did notice that the pile was fairly dry, it is almost decomposed. Will try drowning them. Thanks for the tip.

You are right in avoiding the granules. They are poisonous and even say on the label not to use them in veggie gardens. The compost (at my house anyway) goes in the veggie garden.

Here is how I get rid of the ants when they invade my compost bin here and there.

I give them no rest. I disturb the heck out of them every chance I get.

Rub a little Vaseline or cooking oil on the bottom of the handle of your pitchfork to keep them from crawling up.

When you turn the bin, be sure that the ants end up in the hot center of the pile.

Another thing you can do (if you are very very careful) is to go after them with hot water.

Get a big pot of hot water boiling on the stove and take it out and pour it on the affected section of your pile. Just be careful and don't burn yourself in the process.

The previous poster mentioned citrus as a repellant. That works too.

Orange oil or a high quantity of citrus peels will drive them out.

Good Gardening!

Aubrey

Thanks Aubrey for the great info. Sorry my monitor went dead on me so I just finally got a new one so haven't been on in a few weeks. I did finally get rid of them, kept watering the pile and moving it to the hot part. Didn't think of using vaseline on the shovel, I have used it before on tree or shrub trunks that ants like to crawl up to stop them. Specially fruit trees.

I went to water my compost pile last night as it's been so dry here. When I put the water to it, cock roaches started coming out like crazy. What do you think I should do? I don't want to contaminate my compost but I sure don't want all those roaches around either.

On another forum, a poster from Florida reported clearing the bin of fire ants by mixing in large amounts of used coffee grounds. She used 30 lbs which drove them away within a week. When they returned some time later, another 15 lbs did the trick.

It might be worth a trip to Starbucks to get grounds if they come back. Watering the heck out of a compost pile will stop the cooking microbes in their tracks. Used grounds will keep them smiling and fed, and perhaps chase the ants out of town.

No word how they work on la cucaracha. Maybe chickens might like to scratch around for them?

Wayne