Can any of you who have an open compost pile, bin, etc., tell me how you keep fire ants, roaches and rodents out of them? I've got neighbors with dogs who leave dog food outdoors all the time. It causes a big pest problem. Last year I lost more green tomatoes to rats than I got to keep. I finally figured out what was causing the damage when one got tangled in the bird netting over the plants and couldn't escape. I guess my compost bin wouldn't make the problem any worse than the dog food, but the fire ants are a real problem. I don't want to be distributing them all over the garden with the compost! If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate hearing them.
Composting
I have had great luck killing ants with white vinegar, but I am afraid that the vinegar might make you compost too acid.
Let me check around and see what I can find out.
I usually don't have a problem with ants in the compost, bur roaches like to hide here and there, I think it is unavoidable. No rats, but lots of squirrells, they love to eat all the fruits, I gave up growing tomatoes, too frustrating.
Josephine.
I was told at a compost class that ants provide needed aereation (sp?) for the compost pile so I do nothing about it. Ant problem always seems worst when I throw in "new" stuff. Then I see the ants all over. I imagine there are other bugs in there but I have never seen them. Compost appears pretty bug free by the time I harvest it.
I have no rats. squirrels don't bother the compost bins. could you get a cat? that would be a rodent deterrent.
Can your pile afford to be wetter? Ants don't seem to like being wet if they can help it.
I've read that adding dried molasses to a compost pile will deter fire ants. Of course, this might attract other critters. There was a super long thread two months ago predominantly focusing on organic fire ant killers. Will try to find it and post a link
Found the thread. It was started on April 2nd 2006 by dmj1218. Haven't figured out the hyperlilnk deal, but this is what I get when I cut and paste
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/588191/
Thanks for all the input guys. Collincountytx, I think you just figured out the hyperlink deal! Same way I did it, it looked like a cut and paste and then "magically" turned into a hyperlink when posted! As to the composting, I'm going to try a bit wetter and leave the top open but covered with screen wire frame so maybe that'll keep the critters out. As to the fire ants, I guess we're going to have to just battle them forever. I did see a National Geographic episode last night on TV that showed where in one Texas county they had brought in some kind of parasitic fly that destroyed fire ants. It seems every time people try to outsmart nature, their interference causes more harm than good though (think kudzu and killer bees), but if they find any non chemical control that works on fireants I'm for it.