Ask Dave Epstein: How to deal with jumping worms

Crazy worms — an invasive species from Asia — pose a threat to forests, scientists say. The worms can thrash around so violently that they can jump out of a person's hand. They also lose their tail — on purpose.

Dave Epstein is a meterologist who partners with GBH News to provide daily weather updates and weekly higher-level conversations on Morning Edition.

Gal Tziperman Lotan is a digital producer for GBH’s Morning Edition.

November 14, 2023

Jeremy Siegel: You're listening to GBH's Morning Edition. Jumping worms, ticks, mosquitoes and subfreezing temperatures: these are just some of the topics we are putting to our meteorologist and gardening expert, Dave Epstein, this morning. Good morning, Dave.

Dave Epstein: Good morning. How are you?

Siegel: I am good. I'm a little chilly, though not as cold as I was yesterday. And I got to ask, actually about you yesterday, because I see you've got a beanie on right now. Did you have the base layers and the scarf and the mittens whipped out yesterday when it was in the 20s?

Epstein: That's a good question. No, I think I, you know, I don't know, for Maine.

Siegel: Twenties are no thing for you?

Epstein: Yeah, it's no thing. No, I was outside doing some, doing some work outside, kind of putting some stuff away. Yeah.

Siegel: Well, speaking of how outside was affected by the 20s yesterday: While you apparently were unfazed by the subfreezing temperatures, I imagine it was not good for unwanted pests, things like mosquitoes and ticks that might still be hanging around for the season. Did yesterday's weather in the 20s in the morning, did that like kill them off for the season?

Epstein: Yeah. So it doesn't kill the ticks. The ticks basically just slow down to a crawl. No pun intended. The mosquitoes, it will kill. And you can still get some mosquitoes. Like if we get some warm weather here, there might be some of the little midges in the water that hatch and you get a couple more. But for the most part, the mosquito season ends up getting done. But ticks can be prevalent. When we're up later on this week, 50s and near 60, there can still be ticks in the woods. They'll be moving around and you still have to be careful. The tick season actually has been extended with all these breaks over the winter. When you get these warm weeks, even in January, I've found ticks on the dogs if there's not much snow cover and you get a warm week.

Siegel: Kind of a weird variance in temperature we're seeing this week. I mean, from like the mid 20s yesterday up to the 60s by Friday, that's a 40-degree change in temperature.

Epstein: Yeah, pretty, pretty dramatic here. Over the next several days, we're going to feel like spring or still feel like mid-fall as we get towards the end of the week. And then we'll cool off a little bit for Sunday as we have some showers moving in Friday night into Saturday. Saturday, it's kind of on and off showers, just a couple of little areas of showers that'll be coming through. I've got my final flag football games of the season. So I'm hoping that the showers hold off here a little bit. Yeah.

Siegel: Yeah it is the last weeks, I guess, where you're really able to enjoy truly doing outdoor activities, like that at least. We're talking with meteorologist Dave Epstein about the subfreezing weather and also things that are going on in your gardens that you might have questions about. Dave, We do have some listener questions this morning, one from Laurie where actually Laurie apologized for what they called a gross question. They said, I've read that it is recommended that you seal jumping worms in a bag. They have a problem with jumping worms and then put them in the trash. So they said they read that you put them in a bag, put them in the trash. Wouldn't it be better to just kill them and return them to the soil? Any advice on like, what's the right thing to do with jumping worms?

Epstein: Yeah, I think that the problem with returning them into the soil is you've got to be sure they're dead. I mean, I suppose if you're, you know, and again, I don't know, there could be eggs in there or something like that. So I think that's why you just kind of bag them up and get rid of them. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if you did put them in the bag and killed them, would any of those eggs hatch later on, right, that are just sort of left in the residual dead worms? They are a problem. I've got them all over the place. They've become a bigger problem here over the past few years.

Siegel: Do they literally jump? Is that why they're called jumping worms?

Epstein: Yeah, so they stay at that very top level of the soil, more than sort of the earthworms that go a little bit deeper. Neither worm is kind of native to the area, but the Asian jumping worms really create a problem because they're eating that leaf matter really at the top level of the soil and they can sort of uproot your plants. And, you know, I've got them all over the place this year. I've noticed that this year, more than any other year, they are definitely problematic and they can actually almost uproot plants because they turn the soil into almost looking like coffee grounds at the top. And, you know, it's just not, it's not great for the soil.

Siegel: We got a couple other listener questions. One person is asking about bringing plants inside because for the past couple of weeks, you've been telling people now's the time to bring them inside as it's going to be freezing out. They say, I have an aloe plant that has some frost damage. Do you think it will recover after getting that frost damage inside?

Epstein: Yeah, I mean, if it has frost damage and it didn't go down to the roots, it'll get some new growth eventually. What I would do is, is bring it inside. You're probably going to see the, you know, the aloe is kind of a mushy plant anyway, but the part that got frost damage will probably really get mushy. I would just cut it off down to the base and then let that new growth that's probably in the middle. As long as the root stock is okay, It'll put out some new growth here as we head through the winter and spring.

Siegel: Super quickly, we have another listener who says they have hibiscus and elephant ear plants that they brought inside, but have dropped their leaves and gone yellow. Are those done?

Epstein: No, I mean, the elephant ear plants, usually what I do is I let them go dormant. You can read about it online. And then I store that, it's basically a big bulb, I store that in peat moss down to the basement. And I'll start it up again in the spring. In terms of the, what was the other plant?

Siegel: Hibiscus.

Epstein: Yeah. The hibiscus is going to drop leaves because it's just in shock from going out to in. But keep it inside, just light water and it should come back slowly.

Siegel: That is our GBH meteorologist Dave Epstein. And you're listening to GBH's Morning Edition.

Meteorologist Dave Epstein is our go-to person for pressing weather questions on everything from winter blizzards to summer droughts. He’s also a horticulturist, meaning he’s an expert in anything that grows leaves and flowers. GBH's Morning Edition asked our audience for weather and gardening questions, and Epstein graciously answered them on the air. This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Have a gardening or weather question for meteorologist Dave Epstein? Tweet him @GrowingWisdom, email us at thewakeup@wgbh.org, or text 617-300-2008.

Temperatures dipped into the 20s yesterday. Does that mean the end of the season for mosquitos and ticks?

Winter is coming, but bug season still lingers, Epstein said.

Ticks, for one, don’t typically die in cold weather. They just slow down waiting for warmer temperatures.

“The ticks basically just slow down to a crawl, no pun intended,” Epstein said. “The tick season actually has been extended with all these breaks over the winter. When you get these warm weeks, even in January, I've found ticks on the dogs if there's not much snow cover and you get a warm week.”

Mosquitos will typically die off as temperatures drop, he said, though there may be a few lingering buzzers around.

“You can still get some mosquitoes, like if we get some warm weather here, there might be some of the little midges in the water that hatch and you get a couple more,” Epstein said. “But for the most part, the mosquito season ends up getting done.”

My yard is infested with jumping worms! They are gross and I have coffee ground soil everywhere! … I've read that it's recommended that you "seal them in a bag" and put them in the trash. Wouldn't it be better to kill them and return them to the soil? … Sorry for the unpleasant topic.

Jumping worms, an invasive species that lives near the top of the soil, can uproot plants and leave soil sucked of its nutrients and looking like dry coffee grounds.

“I've got them all over the place this year. I've noticed that this year, more than any other year, they are definitely problematic,” Epstein said. “Jumping worms really create a problem because they're eating that leaf matter really at the top level of the soil and they can sort of uproot your plants.”

Laurie’s idea of returning dead worms to the soil, so they can decompose and replenish the ground’s nutrients, carries a risk of re-infestation, Epstein said.

“I think that the problem with returning them into the soil is you've got to be sure they're dead,” he said. “There could be eggs in there or something like that. So I think that's why you just kind of bag them up and get rid of them.”

I had an aloe plant that has some frost damage. Will it recover inside?

That depends on the extent of the damage, Epstein said.

“If it has frost damage and it didn't go down to the roots, it'll get some new growth eventually,” he said.

The best course of action is to bring the plant inside and cut off any mushy parts.

“The aloe is kind of a mushy plant anyway, but the part that got frost damage will probably really get mushy,” he said. “I would just cut it off down to the base. As long as the root stock is OK, it'll put out some new growth here as we head through the winter and spring.”

I have hibiscus and elephant ear plants that thrived outside all summer. I brought them inside, both have dropped half their leaves and which have gone yellow.

Not all is lost for either plant, Epstein said.

“The hibiscus is going to drop leaves because it's just in shock from going out to in,” Epstein said. “But keep it inside, just light water and it should come back slowly.”

Elephant ears can go dormant and come back just fine, he said.

“It's basically a big bulb, I store that in peat moss down to the basement, and I'll start it up again in the spring,” he said.