Life in the composter

Steve

Was just wondering if there's anything to be worried about here.

I have a 'dalek' composer at the back of the garden, not really paid much heed to it in the last 5 years other than to put the vegetable peelings into it once a week. It always seemed to be happy as the stuff I put in always went down.

After the crispy summer, there were a few bare patches in the back garden so I decided on a whim to see if the stuff in the bottom of the dalek was worth digging out.. lo and behold, there was compost in the bottom so I dug out a few shovels to throw on the back garden grass.

Problem is - well there are two, first is there seems to be an ants nest as the second shovelful was pure ants., The third shovelful contained about a thousand what looked like miniature moths or some small fly with wide wings.

My question is: do I need to do anything there or should I just let nature continue?

Keeks

Sounds to me that you have a well established ant colony. Sounds like the flies are ants with wings, ready to fly off, reproduce and start a new colony.

bmaxi

It's been very dry maybe your compost is dry too. Turn the pile and play the hose on it for five minutes, ants don't usually like to stay in wet conditions. Let us know how you get on.

Steve

To be honest, if they're happy then I'm happy

I'm inclined to leave it alone unless there's a reason I should / need to get rid of them.

I don't think the flies are flying ants, I've had them before - they look like ants with wings.. these things are more like really small moths.

redser7

I definately wouldn't turn the hose on it for 5 minutes. Sorry but that would just kill it and wash nutrients away.
I would leave it alone, unless you had some concern about the ants being around your property. The more life in the compost the better the material will be broken down I would say.

magicbastarder

no harm in taking a leak into it.

bmaxi

redser7 wrote: »

I definately wouldn't turn the hose on it for 5 minutes. Sorry but that would just kill it and wash nutrients away.
I would leave it alone, unless you had some concern about the ants being around your property. The more life in the compost the better the material will be broken down I would say.

If the compost heap has been dry for long enough to encourage ants to build a nest there will be precious few nutrients in it anyway and any water, in whatever form it is added, will not penetrate to the core of it. It needs to be turned and wetted thoroughly to encourage activity. I would also advise the OP, if the Dalek type composter came with a floor, to dispense with that and place the cone directly on soil. The ants aren't really the problem,it's the conditions that attract them that is the problem.

redser7

bmaxi wrote: »

If the compost heap has been dry for long enough to encourage ants to build a nest there will be precious few nutrients in it anyway and any water, in whatever form it is added, will not penetrate to the core of it. It needs to be turned and wetted thoroughly to encourage activity. I would also advise the OP, if the Dalek type composter came with a floor, to dispense with that and place the cone directly on soil. The ants aren't really the problem,it's the conditions that attract them that is the problem.

Sure, compost needs to be damp and not allowed to dry out. But turning a hose on it for 5 minutes is simply excessive. You could fill an empty composter in 5 minutes! Maybe it was just an expression you used??

bmaxi

redser7 wrote: »

Sure, compost needs to be damp and not allowed to dry out. But turning a hose on it for 5 minutes is simply excessive. You could fill an empty composter in 5 minutes! Maybe it was just an expression you used??

You need to thoroughly wet the material and the material will not be in the bin. When you have it wetted you turn it back into the bin.