thats interesting. makes we worry about throwing my red wigglers out onto my garden this year.

so they say asian and euro worms are the problem...

but they don't say what worms are good for the forest...it seems they are saying our forests were meant to be essentially wormless in order to be balaced. interesting

There was a post last July on the same topic.

"Earthworms were here, but different species from the introduced worms. I think the natives are still hanging around in Florida and other southern lands which weren't glaciated.

They're more laid-back, like many retirees who move south to avoid the cold."

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthworms & Forest Destruction

Read the article again. It states that all earthworms were eliminated from the glaciated areas of the US (presumably of Canada, too). Then after the Ice Age, when the forests came back the earthworms that survived the Ice Age in the soils further south in the US did not advance north, and so the forests and soils of the Northeast evolved into ecosystems with earthwormless soils.

Now that we're introducing earthworms (which benefit our gardens) they are wrecking those wormless forest soils by wiping out the duff layer.

I read the article in the Globe when it came out, and I understand that all earthworms were eliminated up north during the Ice Age.

There were earthworms here way back, but I agree that 11,000 or 12,000 years of evolution without worms produces an ecosystem that can't handle voracious worm activity.

I'm not convinced that native earthworms would cause such destruction if they were active here, assuming that they would not consume the duff so quickly.

Claire

We'd have pretty terrible lawns and gardens without earthworms; there are some "killer worms" in some section of England that have ruined the pastures, fields and gardens there by devouring the wigglers. The killers were a type of flat worm, as I recall (from an old PBS show).

Isn't the big problem fishermen - especially ones who dump extra bait worms on lake shores? That and development in forest areas? Since worms travel so slowly, it seems like it would be a bad idea to stop encouraging them in gardens, except gardens on the perimeter of forests. My garden worms would have to cross several highways to get to a forest with a fragile duff layer.

Not to minimize the problem, I understand that it's really bad for native species - just questioning how we're supposed to respond to it.
DtD

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has some suggestions:

"If non-native earthworms are already here, isn't it already too late?

No. Without humans moving them around, earthworms move slowly, less than a half mile over 100 years. If we stop introducing them we can retain earthworm free areas for a long time. Also, there are many other non-native earthworms available for sale that could have even more harmful effects. Even in areas with earthworms already present, we don't want to risk introducing any of these other species.

What about worms in compost piles?

Non-native "red wiggler" earthworms are sold and shipped all over the country for home compost piles and vermicomposting (worm composting) operations. Thus far, they are not known to survive Minnesota winters. However, if they or other species are able to survive winter and escape from compost piles they could further harm native forests. If you have a compost pile in a forested area, do not introduce additional non-native earthworms. If you are concerned about spreading non-native worms with your compost, you can kill worms and their eggs by freezing the compost for at least 1 week.

Can earthworms be eliminated from forests?

Currently there are no economically feasible methods. Preventing earthworm introductions is the best protection.

What can I do to help?

Don't dump your worms in the woods. It's illegal to release most exotic species into the wild (Minnesota Statutes 84D.06).

Dispose of unwanted bait in the trash.

Tell others "the dirt" on invasive earthworms in Minnesota."

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The main action is aimed at fishers who dump excess worms in the woodws.

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: Contain those Crawlers!

I posted a link to this thread on the Soils, Compost and Mulch forum and there have been some interesting responses there.

Claire

Here is a link that might be useful: Invading Earthworms on Soils Forum

Thanks Claire!