Garden Pests and Diseases: Are the potworms eating my Columbine? If not, what is?, 0 by kTalia

kTalia wrote:
I've tried and tried to grow Columbine and failed. Finally I started one in a new location that is doing great. There are a few still languishing in the old bed, so I grabbed my shovel to dig one up and look at the roots to see what was going on. Well, there were no roots and masses of small worms all over the area where the roots stopped. I pulled up a new plant I put in the bed a week ago that was starting to fail already, it too had the worms all over around the roots. I tugged on a few other struggling plants, they popped right out, no roots. I dug up a healthy one about 8 feet down in the bed, healthy roots and no worms. I also have several Hosta, Johnson's Geranium and violas in this bed that are showing no effects what so ever.

So, I strongly believe the worms are Whiteworms/Potworms based on my web research. I've also read that they often feed on harmful micro organisms and decaying matter. So what's going on here I guess is my question, and how do I deal with this?

Here are a few pictures, this first one is a picture (not a very good one due to camera limitations) of what I believe are potworms.