Greenlight has come out with another series of organic product to cope with fire ants, chigger, mosquitos and such and it is made with 2% cedar oil impregnated into clay particles to give it residual power. It is a repellant not a killer. Cedarcide yardsafe comes in 10 pound bags and covers 5000 square feet. I began offering this at my garden center here in Central Texas so I could give my customers an organic safe option than is affordable and safe for use in veggies and around the kiddos and areas near water. I am in a lake area and hate to know how many thousands of pounds of toxic pesticides end up in our drinking water. Just makes sense to look for the least toxic approach to a pest problem and that includes FIRE ANTS. If you use this product and it works or not for your situation talk about it share your info and experiences so we all can work toward a safer world. If we demand safe solutions and support the solutions that work we can make a difference and help guide others toward that direction one person at a time. Happy Growing David

There are about a gazillion types of ants known to science and probably about two gazillion types they haven't noticed yet. But for the sake of a simple answer, I'll divide them into the three most important types: ants who love wood chips, ants who love plants, and and ants who don't care about either. The ones in the first category love wood chips and/or other dead vegetation for food and/or housing. They may be attracted by wood chips, but most ants in this category are beneficial in breaking down dead vegetation for your vegies to get the nutrients. The ones in the second category use plants for food and/or shelter. Some of these guys "farm" aphids. They may be attracted to your garden by the vegies themselves, regardless of the mulch. The third category will be there regardless of the vegies or mulch. Some of these ants are beneficial hunters of other insects. These categories overlap a bit, but are generally true. The science guys are a lot farther ahead with describing and naming insects, than they are with figuring out how they live and what they eat. If you look in a real deal scientific book on insects, they identify all those tiny red and black ants by things like what their mandibles (jaws) or antennae (feelers) look like when magnified. Just watching them gives you more practical info than going through all that to get a Latin name and no details. Wood chips near the porch may be bad for two reasons. First, the wood chips will shrink a lot as they decompose. second, I've read that they attract termites and carpenter ants, which you don't want damaging your house. My personal experience is that they are only interested in larger pieces of wood that they can create a nest in, and not chips or saw dust. It may be an old wives tale from people seeing carpenter ants in wood chips and/or saw dust where trees were removed and not realizing that they were really living in the stump or underground roots. In your area it may be different though. Ziggy

We compost considerable amounts of brush, sunflower stalks, & other woody materials, along with shredded leaves and garden refuse. All of this material is mixed up in the same pile. For whatever reason, I do not see evidence of termites when I open up the pile, in the spring. It could be that the population of fungi & bacteria in the pile creates an environment that is hostile to insects. Based on my experience, if you can set up an active pile, and manage to get it warmed up a bit, with microbial activity, insects will stay away.

Kimmsr, where do you get this stuff? I know where I get mine. My sources (aside from years of experience) include Purdue and "The Complete Compost Gardening Guide" and a class I attended put on by our local solid waste management department. These critters are most certainly not a sign that the compost is too wet. As was mentioned, the sowbugs are found in high carbon environments. You know, like compost with oak leaves. Maybe that's why they are also called wood lice. They don't need lots of water. Your compost pile won't be hot on the outside, so you will find those, springtails, black soldier-fly larvae, etc. if you aren't a militant compost turner (which few of us are) and making sure the entire pile stays so hot it composts in less than a month. I turn mine like crazy in summer months to get compost for fall, but that's the only time I'm turning every three days at max. I still get compost and don't have bad smells. Worms will flee heat and you will find them in the outskirts of the bin if you haven't run them off with the fertilizer. They also flee vibration. So, if you turn the pile regularly they will flee. If it's a sign of too much water, then I wonder why my compost bin even had roly-polies and sowbugs during last year's drought. Jbclem, why do you try to make sure there are no sowbugs in your compost before you apply it to the garden? It's unnecessary and they will help break down any debris in the garden that would otherwise tie up some nitrogen. They have been known to hurt seedlings when no dead matter is left available (insects eat a lot they wouldn't normally eat if it means survival, which is why they will be around much longer than us) and if you want to avoid that you can spread the finished compost on a tarp or something in the sun and the put down a board. The bugs will migrate under the board within the day. You can also use bark off of firewood or some other woody substance. You can do the same thing in the garden, though. Don't want sowbugs to eat your plants? Then provide them with food like bark or a board and move them back to the compost where they do some good. If you want worms, then you are using the wrong method. There is a great book on worm composting called "worms eat my garbage" that I recommend. I have started using worms indoors to reduce trips to the compost bin in winter. It started out as a little science project with the kids. Now it might just replace my hot compost pile as it seems to be tons faster with less hassle. Turning compost can be back breaking work!