Fire Ants in Compost

I have discovered that the fire ants I thought disappeared with the cold weather actually took up shelter in my compost bin this winter. Any ideas on how to get rid of them without killing the pile altogether?

emillener,
I've found that the fire ants stay on the perimeter of the pile where it's not so hot. So I mixed the edges of the pile with the center to get it cooking again.

I'm not sure where exactly you'd put it (around your pile?), but I'm told that diatomaceous earth is hell on ants.

I have the same problem. I had dumped my worm bin in my compost pile last year, and when I saw all the ants, I dug into it looking for worms but I think the ants must have eaten my red wigglers. I put a couple pounds of diatomaceous earth around the edges when I first started that compost pile (I made that pile for a small worm farm), which I know that you have to redo it after a rain and I did not. I put more around and on the pile last month (after I found ants instead of worms). I went out a few days later with no rain and still had ants. I think I read that it is suppossed to rip open their exo-skeleton that ants are suppossed to wear on their outside, but my ants did not no that.

I have never been able to get DE to work...probably because it inevitably gets wet too soon after I put it out and I do not think to put more out right after it dries out again.

I am going to try to get the heat up. I have not been good about turning the pile regularly, but I got one of those compost turning tools for Christmas this year, which makes it much easier to turn. I will give you all a report back on what I find out.

Thanks emillner, keep us posted. If it don't work, could import an ardvark although I heard that Texas speed bumps also eat ants when they are not busy drinking lonestar beer lol.

FYI - According to a compost trouble shooting article on the Texas A&M horticulture site, fire ants move in when the pile gets dry. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://earthkind.tamu.edu/EKCompost.pdf

Thanks for the link. That explains why they were in my compost/worm pile. I do not turn it at all and I was leaving the part above ground level dry so the worms could find where they needed to be. Take care,
Mike

Yes, Great link!

I simply add some (a couple of tablesspoons) citrus oil and molasses mixed in a couple of gallons of water. I add this to the pile and the ants die quickly and the pile smells like oranges. DE doesn't work when moist, a compost pile is slightly moist. I have also discovered that a good load of coffee grounds will move them out of the pile. I am talking 50-60 pounds at a time added to the pile.

All in all ants are decomposers too so they are actually helping to break down the pile.. the hard part is segregating them when you want to use the material.

I agree with you, Bryanccfshr, I use horticultural mollases. It helps heat up the pile and moves the ants out. I haven't used the orange oil though.

Update - I recently added two bags of the spent coffee grinds that you can get from Starbucks and I have been turning it. I still find a few ants, but the overall infestation has decreased. It has also been wet around here lately, so that probably helps too. I don't know if it is any one of these items or a combination of them, but my compost is far more usable now. I agree with Bryanccfshr - I don't mind the bugs until I'm trying to work with the compost. I don't like spending the next couple of days with red itchy welts, but such is the gardening life.