Canesisters 2024 journal

[canesisters]

Day 2 of building compost/ garden beds.

Added another board to make it deeper. Wired the stobs together to make it stronger. Added another doubled layer of cardboard.... it's really more like heavy paper... but it's 8 layers deep now.
Then pulled the woven wire cage from around the OLD compost heap. Yanked out the worst of the weeds & started shoveling it in. It's only a few inches deep so far but I had to stop. Apparently there was a large ant nest in there & they didn't take kindly to being relocated.
I ended up leaving my shoes on the table in the yard & waddling barefoot in the cold, wet grass/ rocks/ sticks/ pinecones to the house.
Oh well, time for a shower & some sleeps before work tonight.

 

[Finnie]

That’s some good progress!

 

[Baymule]

I don’t like ant bites. Your hard work is looking good. Keep up the good work!

 

[canesisters]

I got all of the old compost pile into the garden bed today.
That ant nest was HUGE!!! Assuming they regroup & reconstruct, should I expect any problems with having ants in the garden?? Other than being careful to not get bit too much, of course.
I'm thinking that their tunnels will help with keeping the soil light aerated?? Maybe help with pests too?? I was shocked that in a pile that big I only saw 2 grubs!!! Could be that the ants eat the eggs???

 

[fuzzi]

I got all of the old compost pile into the garden bed today.
That ant nest was HUGE!!! Assuming they regroup & reconstruct, should I expect any problems with having ants in the garden?? Other than being careful to not get bit too much, of course.
I'm thinking that their tunnels will help with keeping the soil light aerated?? Maybe help with pests too?? I was shocked that in a pile that big I only saw 2 grubs!!! Could be that the ants eat the eggs???

Ants will eat root crops like carrots. I discourage them from setting up in my raised beds especially if they're fire ants.

 

[canesisters]

How do you discourage them?

 

[Mini Horses]

Boiling water on their nests....then salt.

I've seen so, so many nests this year -- big ones!! Never before in the 25 yrs I've been here. And those little black things bite fast & hard. Takes several days to clear the bites up.... benadryl & antibiotic salves some days, a chewed plantain leaf others.

 

[fuzzi]

How do you discourage them?

I take a stick and stir the nest daily. I don't want to add anything to the soil that might be detrimental.

 

[canesisters]

I take a stick and stir the nest daily. I don't want to add anything to the soil that might be detrimental.

Same. I first thought about adding a bunch of DE, but there's a lot of life in there that I don't want to harm.
Maybe once I add a thick layer of fresh manure they'll decide to evacuate.

 

[canesisters]

Boiling water on their nests....then salt.

I've seen so, so many nests this year -- big ones!! Never before in the 25 yrs I've been here. And those little black things bite fast & hard. Takes several days to clear the bites up.... benadryl & antibiotic salves some days, a chewed plantain leaf others.

Their 'nest' is now 16' long & 4' wide
But you're right, I've been seeing huge nests - poking up through the weeds on road sides, out in fields liking like termite mounds on some nature documentary, even had one pop up in the pasture that was several feet across & about 6" high (bug sprayed that one!)