Nadine,

I had a huge red ant colony in my compost pile so I sprayed them with ant poison. I wish I wouldnt have done this. Do you think I can ever use this compost in my vegetable garden now?

Well, I would not use it on food crops ever. I do not know what you used, but you can try and make it better by putting dry molasses on it. How much poison did you use? Put at least twice the amount of dry molasses. Do you have a thermometer in it? Make sure it gets real hot. I am no expert, so I cannot tell you what temperature, but personally, I would aim for over 140 farenheit.

Organic matter can sometimes negate the presence of chemicals. I hope this is the case with yours.

Next time you see ants, add moisture to the pile, not chemicals. You know you did wrong, and that is a start. Bless you for that. I pray you will never do this again. All is not lost, but please do not use it on your veggies. after treating it with molasses and feeding more organic matter into it, try and keep it even more moist than a wrung out sponge. just a little more, so that the larvae of black soldier flies appear. Some cal them maggots, I call them mealworms. Birds love them! this might just be an indicator of "all is well". Please keep in mind that I am NOT an expert. I hope that this helps you.

Now I have heard that ant colonies can be beneficial to a compost pile. Would you agree?

Well, they are not going to hurt it. However, if your compost pile is hot and biologidcally active as it should be, ants will not be present.

Nadine, Did you get the e-mail that I sent you?

No, do not use it for any edible crops. EVER. I once had fire ants in my compost pile. I mixed in a healthy amount of dry molasses into the pile and the ants were gone the next day, leaving only the happy earthworms.