I'm moving to a new home, and I was considering bringing some of the soil I've cultivated for the past five years to start my new garden beds. I recently found, though, that I have jumping worms. I'm pretty sure they've been here since I started gardening, so I don't have a point of comparison for impact.


For those who have gardened with and without (or before and after) jumping worms, have you noticed an appreciable impact on the quality or quantity of your vegetable yields? What about soil quality; do you find you have to amend it differently or more frequently? Ultimately, would you recommend that I cultivate soil on my new property from scratch, or are jumping worms not so big of a deal in your experience?

homo_africanus said:I'm moving to a new home, and I was considering bringing some of the soil I've cultivated for the past five years to start my new garden beds. I recently found, though, that I have jumping worms. I'm pretty sure they've been here since I started gardening, so I don't have a point of comparison for impact.


For those who have gardened with and without (or before and after) jumping worms, have you noticed an appreciable impact on the quality or quantity of your vegetable yields? What about soil quality; do you find you have to amend it differently or more frequently? Ultimately, would you recommend that I cultivate soil on my new property from scratch, or are jumping worms not so big of a deal in your experience?

I had to read about them since I'm not familiar with them. Based on what I'm reading, it seems a bad idea to move them. As an invasive organism with the potential for altering the eco-system permanently, it seems to me it would be better to rebuild your soil in your new location without importing material known to be possibly contaminated. That's my personal opinion, of course. You didn't say where you are located, so now I'm wondering how widespread they've become in North America. They've apparently penetrated a lot of geography already..

I agree with Donald. These warms also called Asian jumping worms. I have a lot in my backyard and not sure how they end up here. I buy a lot of garden soil so they most likely came along with. They are very tolerant for all kind of conditions. Based on my experience, compost from jumping worms seem to be different in texture for some reason. It become almost like small rock pieces when it dries.

Rido said:I agree with Donald. These warms also called Asian jumping worms. I have a lot in my backyard and not sure how they end up here. I buy a lot of garden soil so they most likely came along with. They are very tolerant for all kind of conditions. Based on my experience, compost from jumping worms seem to be different in texture for some reason. It become almost like small rock pieces when it dries.

Thanks for the feedback. I have heard about the changes to soil conditions. Have you noticed any negative impacts on your plants?

Not necessarily however that depends on what your plants like to grow in. I have not seen issue with vegetables. I would like organic matters to last longer in ground since I have perennials that love to grow in well drain organic soil, however these voracious worms converts organics matters to fine compost in a couple years. I had to replenish the soil with organics more often.
I also grew hundreds of Japanese maples from seeds in small plastic pots, worms got in pots where it touches the ground and clogged the holes with their compost which I noticed little late. I have lost some of Japanese maples seedlings after heavy rain last year.