I went to give my worms a treat today and when I turned some of the contents of the wormtopia there were a bunch of ants in there. Will ants hurt my worms? If so....how do I get rid of them without hurting my worms?
Hi Godiva, The troubleshooter info I got from the Project Compost class I attended says this about ants: Ants: Raise the bin above a "moat" of water so they can't climb into it. Ants sometimes also mean the bedding is too dry. The 'dry bedding' symptom is echoed on several sites I googled, like this one. This site says the ants won't do any harm. Edit: That site is not about vermicomposting... so I don't know if the ants will harm the worms, sorry! But it seems that you can get rid of them by increasing moisture.
While we're on the topic of worms... sounds like you have your worms outside. How hot does it get by you in the summer? Do they get along ok outside? I decided to move my worms outside this year and try them outside, but admittedly, I'm a little worried about the hot summers up here. I have them in a big rotary composter (could never get that thing to make good compost) in the shade behind my shed. There's lots of bedding, and I lined the bin on the bottom and over the bedding with wet cardboard sheets to help keep the moisture in. Do you think that'll be ok?
Your compost is outside, right? Not in the direct sun all day? Set into the ground a little bit? The worms need to be able to regulate their temperature by choosing a comfortable soil depth. Just as a guess, it sounds like you don't have the right mix of materials. Yours is a much drier climate than mine - usually my compost is too wet, and I have to add shredded paper to balance it out. If I left the top off, the rain would wash it all downhill, along with any stray lawn furniture and slow-moving animals. (OK, it's not quite that bad.) I'm not sure the ants will really do any harm, since they're helping to eat the food, too, but that wasn't the intent. Try adding more wet or 'green' stuff, like fresh lawn clippings or kitchen waste. Failing that, watering the compost along with your plants will help discourage the ants. Maybe try not to leave the kitchen door open when they all yell 'flood!' and head for refuge...
They're outside in the shade. I have them in a wormtopia which are stackable trays on a stand. The bottoms are a grid so the worms can go up and down at will. The bottom tray should be compost in two months. The directions say it takes six months. I have watered them occasionally when it seemed a bit dry (rainy season seems to be over) but it looks like I need to water them more. And perhaps not put in so much paper. I was adding paper along with greens and some dirt to keep it "fluffy" but maybe...not so much. Okay. I'll sprinkle them a bit more. I just added a lot of greens today. (pulled some oxalis and sweetgrass and cut it up small.) They got some tomatoes yesterday and a paper towel. Earlier this week they got some bread. I'm glad to hear the ants aren't going to hurt my worms. Otherwise I would have to kill them. I've only had them since January so I'm still learning.
