Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: Novice on September 08, 2007, 12:53

Title: Red Ants
Post by: Novice on September 08, 2007, 12:53
I'm sure this subject has been covered before ( with special reference to John kneeling in a nest of them  :wink:  ) but I was just checking on my 18 month old compost bin full of old horse poo and straw ( and particularly lovely it is ) and I noticed millions of the nippity little devils crawling in amongst it, and all over my hands. Questions are:
a) how am I gonna move the compost from bin, to point of use, without getting bitten to bits ?
b) will having an ants nest gonna cause problems for whatever I grow in the newly composted bed ?
c) does anyone else think Watford will get automatic promotion this season  :lol:

Thanks
Title: Red Ants
Post by: GrannieAnnie on September 08, 2007, 14:49
Must admit, I've never had many ants in my compost, but those thta I did, were black ones, and they soon scarpered when I started digging in it.  Hope someone with more experience comes online soon for you Novice!!!!
Title: Red Ants
Post by: mushroom on September 08, 2007, 15:34
ants in compost usually means it's dry - as i understand it, they don't like the wet... maybe they'll get the message if you add loads of wet stuff
Title: Red Ants
Post by: brucesgirl on September 08, 2007, 18:44
Right or wrong, my first instinct would be to pour a kettle full of boiling water in.
Title: Red Ants
Post by: muntjac on September 08, 2007, 23:13
run ya hose in it .. as for watford? who?
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Novice on September 09, 2007, 07:11
Thanks for your advice everyone, when I'm off shift I'll have a go and keep you posted - I guess you're not a fotball fan then Munty  :lol:
Title: Re: Red Ants
Post by: DD. on September 09, 2007, 07:39
Quote from: "Novice"

c) does anyone else think Watford will get automatic promotion this season  :lol:



Not after they got thoroughly trounced by Leicester. :lol:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Novice on September 09, 2007, 09:19
Into each life a little rain must fall.
It's a sprint not a marathon.
Every season throws up those odd results.
etc etc etc
...ok then, fair play, you battered us - so it's us and you for automatic promotion then ?
Title: Red Ants
Post by: DD. on September 09, 2007, 09:31
I have my doubts about the latter!
Title: Red Ants
Post by: muntjac on September 09, 2007, 12:34
football ... a group of overpaid nancy men with limited social skills  as shown by rooney and the lack of english language skills as shown by beckham , smelling of shower products chasing a sperical piece of inflated leather in an attempt to catch it then kick it away .married in most cases to females with even lower iqs and a ceaseless cause to look more plastic each day... football pointless excercise to me .  :wink:  :wink:  :lol:
now scuba diving or mountain snow climbing  real sports for real men  :wink:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Welsh Girls Allotment on September 09, 2007, 23:47
if they turn up in your beds - ants that is not footballers, as you would lay beer traps for slugs you can lay sugar and water traps for ants :twisted:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: mkhenry on September 09, 2007, 23:50
Quote from: "muntjac"
run ya hose in it .. as for watford? who?


My mate started to support Watford after his doctor advised him to keep away from football :wink:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: seadart on September 10, 2007, 17:10
Heard at Watford last week "For the benefit of the team we will now introduce the crowd"  :lol:  :lol:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: mkhenry on September 10, 2007, 17:14
Quote from: "seadart"
Heard at Watford last week "For the benefit of the team we will now introduce the crowd"  :lol:  :lol:


 :lol:  :lol:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Novice on September 11, 2007, 12:53
Easy tigers - this was intended to be a serious post about my red ant problem.....but you all are having a "pop" at my beloved Watford. Thats a bit unfar for such a customer friendly club. I rang them up the other day and asked what time kick off was, and they said "what time can you get here?"  :oops:
Mind you MKHenry - at least when we do get there they let us in...not like the debacle last month at Stadium MK  :roll:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: mkhenry on September 11, 2007, 17:17
Quote from: "Novice"
Easy tigers - this was intended to be a serious post about my red ant problem.....but you all are having a "pop" at my beloved Watford. Thats a bit unfar for such a customer friendly club. I rang them up the other day and asked what time kick off was, and they said "what time can you get here?"  :oops:
Mind you MKHenry - at least when we do get there they let us in...not like the debacle last month at Stadium MK  :roll:



I have to take that on the chin. :(

Some of my pals are stewards and they said the fans although they were bitter about it they behaved very well. :wink:
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Novice on September 12, 2007, 11:42
...and as if that wan't bad enough - when we eventually did get in ( right on the stroke of half time ) we found out there is a strict "no beer for away fans rule" !! It's the 1st time since I was 16 that I saw Watford sober !! ( no easy digs there fols )
Anyhooo - back to the original prob...I'll be attacking the compost bin and the nippity little chaps tomorrow and will report back accordingly
Title: Red Ants
Post by: muntjac on September 12, 2007, 11:46
as this is a " red " ant non suporters discussion .all power to the masses ..i say leave them alone... power to the labourites .come the revolution ..........look at all the crop protection they give ya .
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Novice on September 14, 2007, 09:21
UPDATE:I have to report that I broke down two out of 3 compost bins, and to my amazement and disappointment....not a red ant in sight !! Did one of you lot tip them off and they did a runner ? Also, despite the fact that there were some "interesting" looking holes towards the bottom of the stack, nothing was unearthed there either.
So, the net result is, I have dug in the compost into two of my beds, and I now have space for an asparagus bed. This will be about 10 feet square ( does that sound big enough ? ) All I have to do now is have a good read of Muntys post re: asaparagus, and I will be off and running.
Thanks for your help
Watford live on TV on Sun...but so are Kerry in the All Ireland Gaelic football final....oh no, I'll have to make a decision !
Title: Red Ants
Post by: Trillium on September 14, 2007, 15:20
Unless you're feeding your own personal army, 10 foot square should do a small family well. Be patient as it will take a few years to come into full production - and well worth the wait at the end.  :wink: