Interesting. Last year, we took a tour with the kids at Indian Village at Waterloo. They did mention that the earthworm was not native to that area of NJ but crossed over from NY.

There was an article on this in the Master Gardener's newsletter this month.

There was an article about this in The Star-Ledger four years ago (march 2003). It's not really new news.

You're right - it's not new news, but there are new forum participants who might not have knowledge of the "issue" with worms.

I had NO idea about this. You ought to see the worms in my yard. I'm thinking I have the same problem as the gal in the article. I know if I dig in certain spots in the beds that I can pull out hundreds of worms. I always thought it was a good thing too.

I'm thinking about it too. I know I have something that stunts certain plants. I use to bury some of my kitchen waste and once did a bag of cranberries. A year later when I dug that spot, the cranberries were all there, looking just as red, so I checked from time to time until finally, I opened up a solid mass of disgusting, intertwined, wriggling worms. I quickly covered it and never went back.

njtea, Just came upon this while looking at old postings - I didn't know about invasive worm species either, and even if it's old news, I'm thankful you brought it to the attention of many, including me, who didn't know about it. Does anyone know if we have native worm species that are good for all plants? Leslie

There are native worms in the US, but only in the areas south of the glacier line.

When the last ice-age glaciers retreated from North America 10,000 years ago, they left a vast worm-free zone.

This article says an earthworm in any spot north of a line running roughly from Long Island westward through the upper Midwest would be of European origin. But even the areas with native worms (south of the line) are having non-native ones move in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another article

esh ga - another interesting article. Thanks for sharing! Leslie

Thanks, esh_ga. Interesting information.