BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 12, 2023
Gardeners around Maine are not ready to run up the white flag in the face of attacks by invasive jumping worms, but they are mounting a defense as the worm numbers increase statewide. The Asian jumping worms have been in Maine for the last 100 years. For most of that time they were confined to a couple of locations in southern and central Maine. But their numbers have dramatically increased in recent years. They are voracious, born pregnant and extremely difficult to kill. They also destroy the top layers of planting soils. There is no proven effective way to eradicate the worms.