lots of powdered cinnamon and/or turmeric around the bin - they both repel ants well - the way to reduce the population in your yard is to get some boric acid from a pharmacy [used for eye wash], mix some in a heavy sugar syrup, put around the area in sheltered shallow containers for the ants to feed on and take back to their nest for the queens

also keep food additions to the bin covered well, and if the ants are actually into the bedding, it's probably too dry

Bill

Bury your food scraps. If your bedding is damp, the ants won't go there. Ants in compost is a sign that the compost is too dry. They won't go where it's damp.

Deanna

Put a little oil in the pans of water (cooking or motor) and it wont evaporate near as fast. Also why are you putting up with ants in the yard? KILLUM!

My husband sprays for ants every few months, but I don't want sprays in the yard now that the ants are in the worm box - I don't want them bringing any poison in to the box.

Plus ants are going to be around regardless of how much I spray, learning to deal with them is the best bet because I know I can't win the war!

I have 2 1/2 acres that used to have fire ants all over it. Now not only do I not have any but my neighbors don't have any either. It took a whole season to get rid of them but it's nice to not get bitten every time I work in the yard.

I don't think they said what kind of ants they were. In our part of the world (central FL) I don't think it is possible to really get rid of all ants from the neighborhood. Getting rid of fire ants can be a priority but I don't think I would want that much toxic chemicals in the yard to get rid of all ants. Perhaps you wouldn't be bothered by them when gardening but the place would bee too toxic to garden well. Those same microbes that help worms digest your garbage are also very helpful in successfull gardening and pestisides kill them too.

You pour hot water on the bed as soon as it appears after a rain and you will kill all fire ants in one season. Then you watch for any new beds when you cut the grass and get them before they get started good. No chemicals other than the dreaded H20!

as far as keeping the ants out of a worm bed. If at all possible (especially if you are in major ant terratory.) get the bin up on a stand that you can tray the legs. Another thing you can do if the bin is 1-up on a stand with legs or 2-a plastic bin with no holes in the bottom would be to band the 1-legs or 2-bin with some sort of sticky substance that the ants can't cross. Like petrolium jelly. Granted, you have to renew the stuff regularly since as ants and debris get stuck in the sticky stuff, the ants will then have a bridge they can cross up to your worm bin and the worm food.

I'm pretty used to being the PTB, and although pretty forgiving and benovelent way to the max, maybe to a fault, and I have been tested belive me, still kind and gentle to the well meaning or slow of mind, I am also at the throat when necessary.

Each poster is allowed to resurrect one long dead post only in case of dire need or new information per month or year or something. That's the Law. :-) They can do it if there is a good reason but please do not dredge up 8 zillion year old posts in one week.

Perionyx excavatus picture, on that sight that shall remain nameless, looked like a horror movie.

After the ants have eaten all they want from the worm box they will not return but a few to check to see if there is more goodies. I bet they do not like broccoli but are eating fruit scraps. Maybe freeze and blenderize fruit scaps and when the ants are not looking bury them in the middle of the bin.

So I've had my worm bin outside in the same spot for years and the other day found fireants in it. ARGH! It sounds like I just need to drench it really good to get them out. I'm glad to know not to use the orange oil. Really, my only concern is will the ants eat my worms?

okay question, have a worm bin under my house in its working fine, but ants did infiltrate it, not knowing my mother put a BIG pile of granular any killer next to the bin, now all the ants are gone, but u wonder if the ants took the granular killer in the bin with them, any comments or advice will help

Hope someone still responds to note from posts started a few years ago. I'm starting a Worm Tote for a Master Gardener friend. The inside tote has been drilled while the outside tote remains solid. After reading responses above, I started moistening the shredded corrugated boxes and newspaper. I did lift the inside tote out thinking that the ants might start escaping through the bottom, which they did. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this very carefully because I know there were more ants inside the tote. It's about 1/4 to 1/3 full. I intentionally made it this way so her food scraps and papers would go toward filling it up. I washed out the larger tote. So, maybe I just need to keep checking on ants coming out at the bottom. Too soon to tell if they will all move in that direction. But, time will tell, I suppose.

Any feedback is appreciated.

You haven't explained the situation or asked a question. Do you have a worm bin with ants in it?

OMG, I thought I did. Yes. I was preparing a tote with worms when I looked down inside and saw some ants. I have no idea where the came from. I pulled the inside tote with the ants out so I could see done inside the larger one. I did find some ants there. Immediately went outside and washed it out. But, I'm not certain that I've got all the ants out of there. I had been wondering if I smeared some honey around the inside top if the ants might come up to partake and I could wipe them away with a moistened paper towel.

I'll be transferring them to another tote this Sunday. So, I'll carefully examine it as I go and make sure the ants are not being transferred too.

Is this an outdoor bin? If it's being kept indoors, it's easier to keep any ants from to-ing and fro-ing in and out of the bin. If their nest has not actually been built inside the bin, any straggler ants won't last long in there on their own. They'll either leave or die.

I've got 2 indoor Worm Totes (plastic with lids). I was preparing a 3rd tote to give to a friend. Had pulled some castings out of mine and picked out worms carefully from a few big scoops. I had the tote prepared to receive the new worms and got them added. When I went back an hour later, I saw ants at the side of the bottom corner. So, I pulled the inside tote up, saw some ants in the bottom of the larger tote and washed them out.

Tomorrow, I'll transfer the worms and their bedding to another tote. I'll be able to see any ants at that time if they are still in there.

Thanks for your help Parsley.

Back in the summer I also was having a lot of ants in my inside bin. was it too dry I doubt it , it was moist. So I started adding diatomaceous earth heavily in the areas where I saw them usually around the food. Did this solve my problem I dont know. I also put some ant bait on the outside of the bin. I now have no ants in or around my bins.

I've got some Diatomaceous Earth. Would it hurt the worms? Maybe I could do this, too.

Thanks, hummersteve. I'm pursuing DE in that one Worm Tote. Just hadn't thought about that.... goodbye ants.

http://www.wormfarmingrevealed.com/diatomaceous-earth.html

Hurt the worms-- obviously not. I used the food grade and as I mentioned before I put it down heavily since I had a lot of those small black ants. Those ants were after the food, plus it could be used by the worms to help move food thru their system , although in all truth they need something more like broken down eggs shells or rock dust which I dont buy for that purpose.

Agreed, apparently, DE doesn't hurt the worms. However, I did learn that it could take a couple of days to scratch the ant bodies significantly enough for them to start dehydrating. At the same time, if the soil is moist where the ants are... it will take longer. If the soil is drier, then the ants will dehydrate sooner.

This was worthwhile to do the homework. Thanks everyone who responded!

Yes as I remember it didnt work right away. I gave more than one dose of the stuff until I didnt see any more ants in the bin.

Essentially, I gave just one dose, but it was a large dose and then followed up on the next day. So, maybe you'd call it more than one dose. I'm eager to see those ants disappear.

Xtal... Its not like all ants are capable of reproducing, only one ant can do that... the queen. This requires a nest for the eggs from which workers go out in search of food to bring back. If the nest is not in your worm bin, then you've got nothing to worry about and need do nothing except move the bin to a new location, the problem will then quickly resolve itself as the lone workers without purpose will soon die.

I hope that there's enough DE that the worms will be taking it back to the Queen. The ants are in my plastic tote. Have no idea where they came from to get in there. This tote will go to a good friend. Rather than give her a container of Red Wigglers, I make up the tote with bedding and food. It will have to dry out considerably in order to dehydrate the worms. I certainly don't want the ants killing them.

I do not have ants in the house since 10 years ago. Back then I had ants coming from my kitchen window, and the pest control guy could not get rid of them in 3 visits, I decide to use my head and do it myself. I fill a spray bottle with water and half a cup of PINE SOL, I spray on some paper napkins and with the help of a knife, pray the end of the napkin between the wall and the kitchen cabinet, where the ants were going, so I had it hanging for a few days, and spray it every day. Also I spray the lower bricks around the whole house and the bricks around the kitchen window . Little by little the ants disappear, I can leave bread o food on the kitchen counter, I never had an ant again. I still spray around the house every month or two, and I notice I do not have ants hills outside either.