Knowledgebase
Help Jumping Worms #844035
Asked August 03, 2023, 4:27 PM EDT
Windham County Vermont
Expert Response
Still: kudos to you for identifying them, recognizing the invasive problem and asking what you can do to contain them! You MAY be in a very good position to minimize their impact....if they haven't already spread beyond your raised beds and compost.
I WISH I could offer you a way to systematically rid your garden of Jumping Worms....but, alas: we currently don't have pesticides or biological control solutions to eradicate this invasive species. There are some great research scientists working on this...including our own Josef Gorres here at UVM; for now, though: the best you can do is to take steps to minimize their spread.
First & foremost: don't distribute your compost anywhere else on your property and gardens! While you can spot and try to eliminate mature Jumping Worms, it's almost impossible to remove their castings (egg cocoons) from compost or soil. (They look like coffee grindings....i.e.: they look like soil....). The worms, themselves, die off with our harsh winters....but their cocoons survive to birth new worms the next spring. I find it particularly frustrating that you can't clearly identify Jumping Worms until about this time of the year -- they need to mature each year. So I resort to eliminating young worms in the spring and early summer that seem to live close to the surface and "jump" wildly when disturbed.
If you've nicked this problem before it's spread beyond your compost and raised beds: you might be able to eradicate it by bagging up all of the soil and your compost and sending it off (unfortunately) in the trash to our landfill. I would put the bagged soil & compost in black bags and put them out on my tarred driveway to bake in the sun for several days (flipping now & then).
Even if you are able to take these steps: please follow the guidelines for controlling this invasive's spread in Vermont. This is difficult for most of us to do because we are used to sharing our plants with friends, using our gardening implements across our properties and when we help others beyond them...and wearing our gardening shoes as we visit other gardens.
But you can make a difference here since you've identified Jumping Worms before, it seems, they've spread widely on your property.
Please take a look at these fact sheets and, in particular, the sections that explain what you can do to "control" (in this case: minimize the spread) of this pest:
- Vermont Invasives Jumping Worms Site: https://vtinvasives.org/invasive/jumping-worms
- Invasive Species for Homeowner's Asian Jumping Worm site: https://ccetompkins.org/resources/jumping-worm-fact-sheet
- Vermont Agency of Agriculture "Jumping Worms: Best Management Practices for Nurseries & Landscapers" Site: https://vtinvasives.org/sites/default/files/images/Jumping%20worm%20BMPs%20for%20nurseries.pdf
So glad you are aware and doing your best to contain this problem,
- Robilee Smith
Hi Robilee,
Thank you for your prompt reply and all the great resources.
I wanted to ask if completely drying out the soil will kill the egg-cocoons? I was thinking of emptying each raised bed section into a trash can and bring them into the basement by the furnace for the winter to completely dry out? what do you think?
I was going to try dumping soapy water into each section to pull live surfacing worms for now. And continue assessing where they are.
Thanks for your help!
Gina Cote
P.O. Box 405
Saxtons River, Vermont 05154
Home:<personal data hidden> Cell:<personal data hidden>
E-mail: <personal data hidden> On 2023-08-03 19:39, Ask Extension wrote:
Yes: you can used a diluted soapy water mix to bring worms up to the surface of the soil and then dispose of them. (You can "solarize" the worms that emerge: seal them in a plastic bag and leave out in the sun to bake.....then dispose of the bag in the trash.) The first link above -- at the Vermont Invasives Site -- describes this process (briefly) in the "Management" section. (I.e.: add "a few spritzes of dish soap into two gallons of water." Researchers have also recommended a mustard wash (a mix of dry mustard powder and water)....but I'm not sure how well plants tolerate that approach -- and it's more expensive, too.
I am not positive that drying out the worm castings will kill them; but heat is an effective way to do so. At a Jumping Worm conference I attended a year ago, one of the scientists presenting said that current research showed that the egg cocoons perish after three days at 100 degrees. Dr. Gorres has recommended using two sheets of black plastic on a hot driveway: i.e.: you layer one sheet down and then spread the soil on top of it just a few inches thick, at the most; then you layer and secure the upper sheet of black plastic (fold under & weight down the edges so the worms can't escape their sauna). It's best to do this over several hot days to ensure the soil is heated high enough.
So it's possible that your idea for storing the soil near your furnace would work....but those worm castings are pretty resilient and I am guessing that the temperature wouldn't exceed 100 degrees for three days in a row.....
Hot composting (where the compost piles reach over 131 degrees F for three consecutive days) effectively kills the worm cocoons. Here in Chittenden county, our solid waste facility takes garden refuse and puts it through their hot composting process. They don't (at least the last I knew) accept soil, though. You may have options with the Windham county solid waste disposal facilities.
So kudos to you for those good ideas for tackling the jumping worms in your raised beds. You mentioned that you'd found jumping worms in your compost, too. Is your compost tightly contained or sitting out on the ground? Have you spread any of it beyond your raised beds?
I'm so glad you are aware of this (increasing) problem and are taking steps to try to contain it. Remember to clean your tools (an alcohol dip/cleaning), too, if you ever use them on others' gardens and, sadly, refrain from giving plants to friends because any soil attached to their roots could contain worm cocoons.
Thank you for stepping up to this challenge!
- Robilee
Hi Robilee,
I tried the bucket of soapy water on several beds 4X6foot and didn't get any surfacing worms. I dug around and found 2 and bagged them.
My garden set is actually well suited for dealing with this issue, there are foundation walls on 2 sides and dirt driveway on the other 2 sides. I have 4--6X12 foot divided into smaller sections with wood, with black weed cloth under all and gravel on top. My compost is a black rolling bin.
I was a Pathologist so I'm all over the contamination containment!
Do these worms lay eggs all summer or just in the fall to emerge in the spring? Do they lay there eggs or cocoon's shallow in the soil? Would a cold winter kill most of them off?
Gina Cote
P.O. Box 405
Saxtons River, Vermont 05154
Home:<personal data hidden> Cell:<personal data hidden>
E-mail: <personal data hidden> On 2023-08-05 16:15, Ask Extension wrote:
Way to go! It sounds like you have an ideal set-up for trying to manage a jumping worm invasion. Even if you can't entirely eliminate them, you can clearly reduce the number of adults and, therefore, the number of cocoons produced.
Since you are a pathologist and are asking good questions about the life cycle of Jumping Worms, here is another resource that I wouldn't normally point most home gardeners to....but it sounds like you might appreciate this level of detail and scholarship from UVM's Professor Josef Gorres:
https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/UVM-Extension-Cultivating-Healthy-Communities/horticulture/webinars/JumpingWormsGorres_3-3-22.pdf
To answer your specific questions:
* Only mature worms can produce cocoons. It takes 60-90 days for a hatchling to mature. Alas: because the cocoons can live for several years: there may be plenty in your soil that can hatch whenever the temperature is above 50 degrees. (So even during a winter warming....). Fortunately, the worms themselves die off with frosts and low temperatures; unfortunately, the cocoons do not.
* The worms do live in the upper few inches of soil and humus, but from what I understand of the research so far: the cocoons aren't likely to be killed very easily. Some of the research shows how much higher the ground temperature is even just a few inches down. The cocoons seem to have a survival tactic: they dehydrate during droughts and winter....then rehydrate with water and warmth. They ARE killed by heating over 105 degrees for three days' time, though.
If you haven't read the short "Biology" section (pulldown) on the VT Invasives site, you might find that helpful. Here's a link to the Jumping Worms page again:
https://www.vtinvasives.org/invasive/jumping-worms
I am really hopeful that you might be one of the few gardeners who can manage this invasion in your home garden, Gina.
Wishing you success,
- Robilee
Hi Robilee,
Hope you are getting ready for some spring gardening!
Once again I have Jumping worm questions, as it turns out I realized that I may have gotten the worms several years ago when I put up new beds on the other side of my driveway and got a compost soil mix locally from a composting farm. Because all of me raised beds are infected!!! And this past fall I planted some bulbs along my driveway and found more worms in my yard!!!
As I pondered what to do one of my friends told me to cover over my raised beds to block the sun and dry the soil out in an effort to 'cleans' the soil of these pest. What do you think of this idea?
She also told me that her friend who has worms in her flower beds in Connecticut has applied nitrogen to the soil to kill the worms, does this work? could I apply nitrogen in my yard-woods of oak trees, is this safe??? I understand its not safe for vegetable beds.
Gina Cote
P.O. Box 405
Saxtons River, Vermont 05154
Home:<personal data hidden> Cell:<personal data hidden>
E-mail: <personal data hidden> On 2023-08-07 21:21, Ask Extension wrote:
Shucks! So sorry to hear that your jumping worm "outbreak" has spread.
Alas: no miracle cures yet...though research progresses.
I've seen nothing in our fact-based research material that suggests "adding nitrogen" is a cure.
Your friend's suggestion to "cover the raised beds" comes a bit closer to current management methods. We exchanged some information last year about solarizing soil; but this is done by baking a layer of soil between two sheets of plastic:
[This is from a UVM Extension "Invasion of the Jumping Worms" article: https://www.uvm.edu/news/extension/invasion-jumping-worms ]
Any organic materials should be solarized prior to being introduced into the garden. To do so, make a pile 6-8 inches high of organic material on a clear plastic sheet, allowing plenty of uncovered plastic on the outer edges. Cover with another piece of plastic, pulling up the edges from the bottom and tucking the upper piece below the bottom to prevent worms from escaping.
Leave the enclosed pile in the sun for 2-3 days. The internal temperature needs to exceed 105 degrees Fahrenheit to kill the jumping worms and their cocoons. Materials purchased in plastic bags can be solarized right in the bags.
I'm afraid simply covering your raised beds with plastic won't be effective because the worms would be able to dig down into cooler soil below to escape the high heat needed to kill them.
Please don't give up on your garden! You can live with jumping worms, but you do need to follow the precautions we discussed for limiting their spread:
- Don't spread soil or compost from one area of your property to another
- Don't give plants to friends :-(
- Clean your tools (a simple water/alcohol dip or wipe-down will do) before using them elsewhere (on your property or beyond)
- Clean the base of your shoes before entering others' gardens if there's any chance that soil from your garden is on your soles
Hang in there and know that you have plenty of good company who empathize and are also fighting the good battle,
- Robilee
Okay, thanks for the clarifications! I guess solarizing is all I can do!
Thanks,
Gina Cote
P.O. Box 405
Saxtons River, Vermont 05154
Home:<personal data hidden> Cell:<personal data hidden>
E-mail: <personal data hidden> On 2024-03-20 13:08, Ask Extension wrote:
