Be careful not to spread earthworms in native US plant areas. They come in mulch, potting soil, etc. Raking or blowing leaves concentrates their eggs, which can wreak havoc in an area. Aapparently! -US Forest Service
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More invasive earthworms will eat all of the leaf litter, which is needed for some plants to grow.
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@33MHz of all the things I didn't expect to be nonnative, earthworms is one of them.
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@igmp_join supposedly there were earthworms everywhere, but the glaciers wiped them out in the Americas.
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@33MHz @igmp_join This has surprised/interested me. Not that I planned to visit the Americas with earthworms.
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@coopey we would meet you with knives! /@igmp_join

[hey bub. You got worms in there?]
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@coopey "na man, it's just a pot of dirt, relax."

@igmp_join
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@33MHz If I do ever transport over some fauna I'll probably be bringing back them horrid grey squirrels that've almost completely over-run our lovely red ones :-D @igmp_join
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@33MHz I was spreading mulch yesterday but it was in beds that already have mulch. So I presume that isn’t what they are talking about?
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@thedoctor your mulch may come with invasive earthworms, which will eat your leaf litter. So that'd be a shame. But I'm not sure there's much to do about it! Earthworms are generally nice, but it sounds like don't *help* them propagate. 😅
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@33MHz I interpreted it to mean do what you can to limit bringing earthworms into forests. What is a leaf litter though?
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@thedoctor leaf litter is just decomposing plant material, that compose the top layer of soil, at least naturally. It's the soil that tends to collect at the top of the ground, and is part of putting nutrients back in the soil.
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@thedoctor Besides directly adding to soil, some insects and plants need their physical cover to overwinter, or grow in the Spring.
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@thedoctor yep, I'd say just don't bring earthworms anywhere -- although I've never really tried to myself, I've just said "oh there's an earthworm! That's good." 😄
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