{"id":834,"date":"2023-03-06T20:34:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T20:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=834"},"modified":"2024-06-07T13:51:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T13:51:11","slug":"gardeners-asked-to-be-vigilant-this-spring-for-invasive-jumping-worms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/Q1\/gardeners-asked-to-be-vigilant-this-spring-for-invasive-jumping-worms","title":{"rendered":"Gardeners asked to be vigilant this spring for invasive jumping worms"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —<\/p> \n

While earthworms in the spring are a happy sight for gardeners, an invasive worm species is wreaking havoc for landowners and gardeners in southern Indiana.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Robert Bruner, Purdue Extension\u2019s exotic forest pest specialist, describes jumping worms, an invasive species to North America in the genus Amynthas: <\/em>\u201cTraditionally, when we see earthworms, they are deep in the ground and a little slimy. The jumping worms are a little bit bigger, kind of dry and scaly, and tend to thrash around much like a snake does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While worms have a reputation as a helpful species found in the soil ecosystem, invasive jumping worms do not live up to that standard, Bruner explained. Jumping worms will consume all organic material from the top layer of soil, leaving behind a coffee ground-like waste with no nutrients for plants or seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since jumping worms stay within the first few inches of topsoil, they are not creating channels for water and air the way earthworms do, disrupting water flow to plant roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo basically, they\u2019re just very nasty pests that ruin the quality of our soil, and the only thing that can really grow in soil like that are essentially invasive plants, or species that are meant to survive really harsh conditions,\u201d Bruner said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Purdue Agricultural Communications photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Currently, the worms are being found in cities around southern Indiana, he said, particularly in Terre Haute. There is still much to learn about jumping worms, making eradication efforts difficult. One thing that is known, Bruner said, is they aren\u2019t a migrating species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the kind of invasive pest that is moved almost entirely through human activity. They don\u2019t crawl superfast,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo, when they move, that means they\u2019re moving because we\u2019re transferring soil, say, from someone\u2019s plants or someone\u2019s compost and we\u2019re bringing them to a new area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruner is working with fellow Purdue Extension educators to spread the message that gardeners should not share ground soil or compost and avoid potted plants from unknown sources. If you suspect jumping worms are present in your own soil, Bruner suggests a process called solarizing to eliminate unwanted pests. Gardeners should lay down a black or dark-toned tarp on a sunny day and sprinkle a thin layer of soil on top, allowing it to reach a temperature over 105 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruner cautions that jumping worms can escape during the solarizing process, \u201cso you need to completely wrap the soil up in the tarp, essentially making the world\u2019s worst sandwich, and allow it to heat up and kill whatever is in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruner said whether the worms will create a major issue for gardeners this season remains to be seen, but he isn\u2019t as concerned for farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a nightmare pest if you do gardening, but we don\u2019t have evidence yet that it will spread into agricultural fields,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to kill any kind of industry. We\u2019re asking people to be on the lookout and use your best judgment when you\u2019re getting your soil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any invasive species sightings should be reported to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources at depp@dnr.in.gov<\/a> or by calling 1-866-663-9684. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Writer and media contact:<\/strong>\u00a0Jillian Ellison, 765-494-0948,\u00a0ellison1@purdue.edu<\/a>\u00a0
Agricultural Communications:<\/strong>\u00a0765-494-8415;
Maureen Manier, Department Head,\u00a0mmanier@purdue.edu<\/a>
Source:<\/strong>\u00a0 Robert Bruner,\u00a0rfbruner@purdue.edu<\/a>\u00a0

Agriculture News Page<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

\n
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Note to journalists:<\/p>\n

\n A\u00a0video link<\/u><\/a>\u00a0is available to media who have an Associated Press subscription. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — While earthworms in the spring are a happy sight for gardeners, an invasive worm species is wreaking havoc for landowners and gardeners in southern Indiana. Robert Bruner, Purdue Extension\u2019s exotic forest pest specialist, describes jumping worms,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"department":[6],"source":[29],"purdue_today_topic":[72],"coauthors":[39],"class_list":["post-834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","department-agriculture","source-purdue-news","purdue_today_topic-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1892,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834\/revisions\/1892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}