Yup... Nightcrawlers have been decimating my carrot seedlings for a couple of years now. I have ruled out other things such as slugs, damping off, earwigs etc. I mulch my garden pretty heavily, but the carrot beds were intentionally left clean to avoid competition for the emerging seedlings.. The poor worms were just hungry. They came up, looked around - nothing to eat except carrot seedlings - oh well, better Garth's carrots than nothing... chomp - chomp - replant - chomp - chomp... So I started mulching the bed with grass clippings and more seedlings survived. Ready to do war again this year. Perhaps I will string bright lights over the carrot bed. I simply have too many worms in my ultra rich organic soil. They know a good thing when they find it. I have photos of the stockpiles of debris over their holes. Amazing critters.

I just want to mention that I did indeed Google and want to share what I found. I found that there are many native North American earthworm species that existed on the continent before the arrival of the Europeans. However, they did not live in all regions. In particular, regions that were covered by thick ice sheets (e.g. Great Lakes region and Canada) did not have any native earthworms prior to European colonization. That's what Jeri is referring to. In much of the rest of the country native species did and do exist. California, for instance, has its own native species of earthworm that exist nowhere else in the world. We are not likely to see them in our yards, though, because they are greatly disturbed by tilling and have mostly been displaced by non-native species. However, in the wilderness areas they still exist. They are adapted to our dry climate with a winter rainy season and exotic worms don't much care for that. The Pacific Northwest has many species of native earthworms, including the Oregon giant and Palouse giant, both of which are rarely seen and may be headed for extinction. The East has its own native species of earthworms, too. A search on this web page shows at least 108 native species: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20o?guide=Earthworms

Invasive worms to Florida. I moved here from Hawaii. The threat from Eisenia foetida,and "European Night crawlers has cased great concern that if you import them you can be fined $25,000. http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/resource/import_resource.htm When Looking for Compost worms here,I was shocked. The only worm farm I found sell Worms that are not from Europe was Hongkongwillie Worm Farm. Why is the compost worm industry so money driven. In their on words,selling tactics(Eisenia foetida, and"European Night crawlers) they tell what these worms will do. Here is one of the statements made. Their voracious appetites and reproductive rates are like no other worm. Florida has so much to lose like Hawaii. The environment is perfect for these worms to upset the natural Balance. Please Composting worm growers ,you say you are green, not so true. The wprms you sell is for money. Stop be for it is to Late. Hongkongwillie I salute you. http://redwigglersforsaletampa.blogspot.com/2012/04/florida-native-compost-fishing-worms-we.html

Eden, I'm in Hawaii and we may have the same kind. They're called perionyx excavatus and the common names include Indian Blues and Malaysian Blues. If they are the kind that hang out under the leaf litter, but don't go very far down in the soil, then you're got the right kind. (Epigeic worms. The endogic kind - the ones that dig down deep - don't do the composting as well.) Here's a site from Vietnam describing them - http://www.earthwormvietnam.com/English_files/about_perionyx_excavatus.htm They say "Perionyx excavatus is a beautiful worm with an iridescent blue or violet sheen to its skin clearly visible under bright light. It is a very small worm, poorly suited as fishing bait, but has an impressive growth and reproductive rate far in excess of the other species grown in bin culture." It's not used more commonly in the mainland US because it doesn't tolerate cold well and would die in the winter. One comercial worm farmer in southern California, where it doesn't get as cold, says that PE is superior in speed of composting and breeding. If you want, I can try and find the reference. Google perionyx excavatus and click on 'images' for lots of photos. A good intro is at www.hawaiirainbowworms.com/C-perionyx.html Let us know how things turn out! I started with 1 oz (28g) about 9 months ago and now have well over a pound (2kg). Even just a handful would multiply to a respectable number in about 3-4 months. I bought mine, but I've been thinking of going in to the forest and seeing what I can find after a rain. I'll probably get to it in the next few weeks. I'll let you know what I find. Are any of our Southern US or tropical country friends using PE?