Asian JUMPING WORMS?

[CalG]

All the inter web articles tell about these EVIL invasive earth worms.

They are prolific in my gardens and compost heaps. I worry about what I read, but recognize the benefit or enriched soil where such soil is hard to come by.

My question is,,, What are the considerations in the native lands of Japan and Korea?

It seems gardening and farming and forest grow there in the presence of the jumping worm.

Anyone have the inside scoop?


I don't need any more university extension service hype and tripe. There is NOTHING I can do to stop them, I'm just trying to learn to live with them. Heck! They even prosper under the fall leaves on the gravel roads. Thousands of them when I blew back the leaves with the back pack blower.

 

[oosik]

A thought just hit me - CalG. My only trees here on the property are Ponderosa pines. So ..... the soil is pretty acid. Down around 4.5 to 6 - on the PH scale.

I have NEVER found a single earth worm when scuffing around under my pines. Out in the fields - maybe a couple if I dig enough ground up.

I wonder if a change in the soil PH could kill them off. Might be worth a try in a small area.

 

[CalG]

A thought just hit me - CalG. My only trees here on the property are Ponderosa pines. So ..... the soil is pretty acid. Down around 4.5 to 6 - on the PH scale.

I have NEVER found a single earth worm when scuffing around under my pines. Out in the fields - maybe a couple if I dig enough ground up.

I wonder if a change in the soil PH could kill them off. Might be worth a try in a small area.

Perhaps the soils in Japan and Korea are acidic, and so naturally suppress earthworm growth.
But I know crops that do not prosper in acid soils are grown in those countries (worms are native there)

 

[Jstpssng]

They probably have natural pests and pathogens in their native lands which keep them in check. Somebody who is more adept than I am could probably come up with some info on that; the only thing I came up with was the same things you've been reading.

 

[ruffdog]

WI DNR info:
Jumping worms | Wisconsin DNR

It says we have had them since 2013 but I have not seen them yet. It sounds like they disrupt the natural cycle by eating too much.

 

[CalG]

They probably have natural pests and pathogens in their native lands which keep them in check. Somebody who is more adept than I am could probably come up with some info on that; the only thing I came up with was the same things you've been reading.

The internet is a mile wide

but only an inch deep.

Say's something about what the "typical inquirer" is satisfied with.

 

[CalG]

A thought just hit me - CalG. My only trees here on the property are Ponderosa pines. So ..... the soil is pretty acid. Down around 4.5 to 6 - on the PH scale.

I have NEVER found a single earth worm when scuffing around under my pines. Out in the fields - maybe a couple if I dig enough ground up.

I wonder if a change in the soil PH could kill them off. Might be worth a try in a small area.

You are talking like you want to get rid of them.

I'm trying to find out how to exploit them to my benefit ! Sinister am I not? ;-)

 

[Jstpssng]

You are talking like you want to get rid of them.

I'm trying to find out how to exploit them to my benefit ! Sinister am I not? ;-)

One thing which you must have read is how they increase the chance of erosion, change the soil texture and strip the soil of it's nutrients. Are you sure that you want them around?

 

[alexpops]

Run a hook through them and toss into a pond. They'll get converted into bass. Best exploitation use.

 

[CalG]

One thing which you must have read is how they increase the chance of erosion, change the soil texture and strip the soil of it's nutrients. Are you sure that you want them around?

Well, In reading... Multiple University level agronomy agencies have tried to discover ways to get rid of them... Without success.
All they offer is "clean your shoes so the spread is slowed.

I'm just trying to be realistic and looking for the good in what is handed down.

My gardens are FLAT! There is no erosion possible . I certainly do not see any the like on my property. The worm castings ARE nutrient rich (or so I read, most are) If the castings can be treated as a beneficial amendment or a top dressing, there could be value. Black earth is an improvement over the heavy tan, but depleted forest soil that is the norm on this plot.

It seems there is little understanding about these creatures . Just looking for the bright side,


"Stripping soil of it's nutrients" in a garden setting filled with mulches amendments,compost manures and fertilizers is a strange concept. Where can the the nutrient possible be striped to? Into the soil? That is where I put them ;-)

I will be VERY concerned if these particular worms disrupt the mycelium content of the soils. Chemical or physical.

Frost is here now. the worms are done for this year. I've mulched heavily. The winter rye is growing gangbusters. The soil looks good. I'll keep looking for some symbiosis.