Ants in compost are not necessarily a problem. Since a heavy ant infestation in the composter is not ideal and can even promote the spread of the aphid, you should react at some point. Use these tips to combat ants.
How to fight ants in compost?
Ants in compost are not harmful, but can indicate that the compost is dry. To remove or keep ants away, ensure there is sufficient moisture, use plant manure, essential oils or plant ant-repellent plants such as lavender or thyme.
Are ants in compost good or bad?
Ants themselves arenot harmful for the compost. In principle, they can even promote the decomposition of the earth. However, an excessive influx of ants to the compost heap indicates that the condition in the compost is not ideal. This is due to the fact that ants only move towards compost when there is a certain level of drought. However, compost needs sufficient moisture to rot well. The ants are a signal that the compost heap is lacking water.
Should I use chemicals to control ants in compost?
When combating ants in compost, provenhome remedies are preferable If you lay out ant bait or spread insecticides in the compost heap, you are spreading harmful substances. Unlike some plant poisons, these are not necessarily broken down when they rot. As a result, you enrich the humus with pollutants. If you then use substrate from it for your gardening, spread the substances throughout your garden.
How do I get rid of ants in compost?
Provide moremoisture or use plant manure to combat ants. Water the compost heap until it has about the moisture of a wrung-out sponge and mix the substrate a little. This often leads to the ants moving away. If you want to take even more targeted action against the ants in the compost, you can use plant manure for watering. Nettle manure, lemon manure and tansy manure also keep ants away with their smell.
How do you avoid ants in compost?
If you placeplants against ants next to your compost heap or compost their clippings, you can also keep ants away. The most popular plants against ants include the following:
- Lavender
- Thyme
- Marjoram
- Wormwood
- tansy
If these plants do not have such a strong effect due to the season, you can also use essential oils such as lavender oil or lemon oil.
How to disperse ant trails to the compost heap?
Ant trails can be interrupted usingCinnamonorGarden Lime. Cinnamon powder, in turn, gives off an unpleasant smell for ants. Lime has a strongly alkaline pH value. Since the powder neutralizes the ants' acid and is very dry, ants usually do not walk on it. If you apply thick borders with lime, you can create a boundary to your compost.
Tip
Use baking soda as a natural means of destruction
Do you have an acute ant infestation in your compost? Baking soda is also a cheap and natural means of destruction. When the ants eat it, it swells up inside them and the ants die. In this case, however, you kill the beneficial insects.
