Ways to get rid of the pest of potatoes - wireworm

In the process of growing the most popular vegetable in our country - potatoes - gardeners are faced with problems that sometimes simply baffle them. These are not only plant diseases, but also pests that strive to spoil the expected harvest. One of them is the wireworm. A wireworm in a potato can ruin all your labors.

In terms of the amount of damage to the crop, it can be compared with the famous Colorado potato beetle, only its effect on the root crop is different - the parasite drills holes in the potatoes and spoils the harvest that is already ready for harvesting. With love and care, the grown vegetable becomes unusable, and even more so for storage, it only remains to throw it away. In some cases, affected potatoes turn out to be a significant percentage of the total harvest, which is doubly offensive.

You can successfully fight such a misfortune on the site, we will try to consider all the existing methods.

What you need to know about the wireworm

Wireworms are voracious larvae of the click beetle. As soon as the sun warms the ground thoroughly, the female beetle lays its eggs in the top layer of the soil. This happens in May-June. In about a month, the larvae will hatch, which will exist in the ground during their entire life - this is about 3-4 years. In the first year, they are not dangerous for root crops. During this period, wireworms feed on plant roots and are actively gaining weight, therefore, next year it is already a very mobile insect, similar to a worm, with a narrow light brown or yellow body. The pest has a cover that reliably protects it, so you won't be able to crush the insect elementarily, you can only break it. Because of this feature, it got its name.

In the fourth year, activity decreases, the larvae are transformed into pupae, and then into adult beetles. But there is no reason for joy here. You can't breathe easy: 2 years have suffered, the beetles have hatched, now the wireworm will not appear in the potatoes. If an insect has settled on your site, then be sure that you always have a complete set, from small larvae to adult beetles. If you do not fight the pest, but let the process take its course, your site will become an excellent incubator for breeding wireworms, and the efforts spent on growing vegetables will fail.

Control methods

There are several methods for getting rid of the wireworm. You can use combinations of these for more effective results. As in any way to combat garden pests, here it is necessary to distinguish 2 subspecies - folk methods and with the use of chemicals.

If you are not a supporter of the use of chemistry in growing crops, then the following methods will suit you.

The wireworm feels comfortable in damp or acidic soil, so it is worth considering changing the composition by applying liming of the earth. The process involves adding lime, chalk or ash while digging or loosening. The frequency of the procedure is once every 3-4 years. The most affordable way is ground egg shells, which can be scattered over the vegetable beds in the summer.

Deep digging is recommended before planting vegetables, it is better if you do this in advance, in late autumn - then all the larvae and pupae from the upper layers will die in winter.

Wireworm wheatgrass is a treat, so try to keep your area free of weeds.

Before planting potatoes, you can treat each hole with special solutions:

• manganese solution - at the rate of 5 g per 10 liters of water. Not applicable on acidic soils! May cause plant burns;
• infusion of celandine - 100 g of crushed mass is infused for 3 days in 10 liters of water;
• nettle infusion - 0.5 kg of shoots for the same 10 liters;
• infusion of coltsfoot - 200 g per 10 liters;
• you can even use a dandelion - also 200 g per 10 liters.

The etching procedure must be repeated 2-3 more times at weekly intervals.

Some gardeners advise pouring about 5-10 grams of crushed eggshell moistened with vegetable oil into the planting hole. This method can also work against the bear.

Fertilizing plants with ammonium sulfate is also very effective in the crop war.

You can sow perimeter or row spacing with bait plants. Corn and salad are good for this. Wireworms are taken into their roots. When the plants grow up to 20 cm, they need to be dug up together with the attached pest and destroyed (burned). You can also use crops of barley, oats or wheat for bait. The process is the same - they are sown before planting the main crops, germinate, and then dug out together with the pest. The deserted area can be sown with grain again and another "crop" of larvae can be harvested.

Surprisingly, but marigolds can help you fight the wireworm - plant them around the site.

Some gardeners were helped by the method of digging pine or spruce needles into the ground.

Gluttonous insects are excellent traps. It is quite easy to build them, they are used before sowing. Any cake is laid inside - beets, potatoes, seeds are suitable, you can use pieces of vegetables. This bait is buried in the ground to a depth of 15 cm, and after 3-4 days this "dining table" is dug up together with the wireworm. This method can be used throughout the summer, right through to harvest. The bait can also be placed in small glass jars by burying them up to the neck in the soil.

You can dig small holes in the area, place last year's grass, straw or hay in them. Such places are very attractive for the wireworm, he will definitely visit them. After a few days, select the herb and burn it, and replace it with a new seed. If you try, then in such a simple way you can reduce the pest population by 90%!

Of the chemicals diazolin fights well with the wireworm, there are a number of drugs based on it, but all this is poison, so it should be used strictly according to the instructions. In addition, repeatedly used drugs are addictive to pests, and you will only poison vegetables in vain.

If your site is flooded with wireworms, try to involve your neighbors in the fight against them, because due to insect migration, all the methods above can give the effect of getting rid only for a short time.

Whichever method you choose, we wish you a victorious solution to the problem and excellent yields.

Video "Garden pests - clickers (wireworms)"

In the video broadcast, we are talking about pests of garden crops - wireworms: features of the species, how to recognize harm to vegetable crops, how to deal with the parasite.