![]() “So, when they move, that means they’re moving because we’re transferring soil, say, from someone’s plants or someone’s compost and we’re bringing them to a new area.”īruner 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. They don’t crawl superfast,” he explained. “This is the kind of invasive pest that is moved almost entirely through human activity. One thing that is known, Bruner said, is they aren’t a migrating species. There is still much to learn about jumping worms, making eradication efforts difficult. “So basically, they’re 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,” Bruner said.Ĭurrently, the worms are being found in cities around southern Indiana, he said, particularly in Terre Haute. 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. 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. 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. The jumping worms are a little bit bigger, kind of dry and scaly, and tend to thrash around much like a snake does.” Robert Bruner, Purdue Extension’s exotic forest pest specialist, describes jumping worms, an invasive species to North America in the genus Amynthas : “Traditionally, when we see earthworms, they are deep in the ground and a little slimy. 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. ![]()
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