Wireworm

The wireworm is actually the larva of the click beetle. It is very easy to distinguish it from other larvae, because its body is very strong and hard (like a wire), and the integument is glossy. The potato wireworm can be very harmful to the potato tubers, it is just as dangerous to the plant as the Colorado potato beetle. However, it is much easier to save bushes from a beetle, since it settles on foliage, where it is easy to find and destroy. And the wireworm, in turn, lives underground, which makes it harder to detect, and also makes it difficult to fight it.

Wireworm features

Wireworms are polyphagous, they feed not only on roots, but also on shoots of plants, as well as seedlings and seeds. In root crops and tubers, wireworms make passages, as a result of which they are very poorly stored, and in some cases they should not be eaten at all.

The length of the wireworm can vary from 1 to 5 centimeters. A very tough and thin body can be colored in various shades from yellow to dark brown. If you want to crush such a pest, then you will have to try very hard. The duration of the developmental cycle of the clicker is five years, while the larva develops over the course of 3-4 years. During the first year, the larva injures the underground part of various cultures, but it is not capable of causing severe harm. From the second year of life, the larva is already more dangerous, while in the fourth year it pupates. An adult click beetle is selected from the pupa in spring.

Wireworm Fight

Most pests can be dealt with fairly easily with an acaricide or insecticide. However, getting rid of the wireworm is not easy. The matter is complicated by the fact that he lives in the ground, and therefore it is rather difficult to find and get to him. In this regard, you need to fight the larvae at once by all methods available to you, namely: mechanical, agrotechnical and chemical.

Agrotechnical methods

Agrotechnical ways to combat wireworm:

1. In the spring, you need to dig deep into the soil in the garden, while always choosing and destroying all pupae, larvae and click beetles. Also, in a timely manner, remove all weeds from the site, pay special attention to the rhizomes of willow-herb and wheatgrass.
2. Remember the rules of crop rotation. For example, it is recommended to sow peas and beans after potatoes.
3. Sow green manures in the area that can scare off the pest.Most often, gardeners use green manures such as lupine, alfalfa, mustard and vetch for this, since they are most effective.
4. It is recommended to plant a salad between the rows of potatoes because the wireworm loves to eat its roots.
5. In the autumn, a mandatory deep digging or moldboard plowing of the soil is carried out immediately before a severe frost. Thanks to this, it will be possible to get rid of most of the pests (from 50 to 90 percent).

Wireworm remedies (drugs)

In the fight against the pest, superphosphate granules treated with an insecticidal agent are used, which are recommended to be put in each well, 3 or 4 pieces. You can process them with the following means: Karate, Actellik or Decis. Spread the superphosphate granules in a thin layer and treat them with the following solution: 80 milligrams of water is combined with 200 milligrams of acetone and 15 milligrams of any of the listed insecticides.

In the event that there are a lot of larvae on the site, and it is impossible to get rid of them by the methods listed above, then it is recommended to use the agent Bazudin, which is highly toxic, you can choose the drug Diazinon, which is not so dangerous for warm-blooded people. In the fight against wireworm, Prestige is also used, which can reduce the number of the Colorado potato beetle and wireworm by almost 2 times, plus this drug is less harmful in comparison with Bazudin. Even in the fight against such a pest, Provotox is used, which is not addictive to the wireworm, is distinguished by low toxicity for humans, as well as absolute harmlessness to earthworms. The duration of this tool is quite long. In addition to these pesticides, to get rid of the wireworm, they also use such as: Grom-2, Kapkan, Zemlin, Aktara, Force, Metarizin and Dohlox. Remember that before using any of the chemicals, you need to carefully read the instructions and strictly follow them.

Folk remedies

Since chemicals can harm the human body, it is recommended to use them in the fight against a wireworm only as a last resort. You can replace them with folk remedies, of which there are quite a few. The best folk recipes from the wireworm:

1. Infusion of celandine... This infusion is considered the most effective of all herbal remedies. It is recommended to shed all the soil on the site with a ready infusion.
2. Wood ash... It is recommended to cover the soil surface between the rows with a layer of ash, which will lead to the death of the larvae.
3. Nitrogen fertilizers... Nitrogen fertilizers, which include ammonium, fight the wireworm quite effectively; instead, the soil can be spilled with ammonia water. Ammonium salts have a detrimental effect on the pest, and they are also an excellent nitrogen fertilizer for root crops.
4. Lime... As a rule, slaked lime is used to deoxidize the soil, but at the same time it can kill most of the wireworms. In addition to it, chalk, coal ash or dolomite flour can be added to the ground 1 time in 3 or 4 years.
5. Shell... A cheap but quite effective remedy is ground egg shells. It is scattered over the surface of the entire site.
6. Bait... Several traps can be made on the site. To do this, make a small hole with a depth of 7 to 15 centimeters and put cake, a piece of carrot or beet in it. From above, the hole must be closed with a piece of iron or plywood. Also, as bait in the hole, you can put grass, straw or hay, which did not have time to finish to the end. After three or four days, check the holes and destroy the bait along with the larvae of the click beetle. The first laying of baits is carried out 7-15 days before planting of root crops, and then they continue to do this regularly throughout the summer.In autumn, it is recommended to put bundles of straw or pieces of manure on the soil surface in several places on the site. After the first frosts have passed, the larvae of the click beetle will accumulate in the baits, which will only have to be destroyed along with the straw.
7. Potassium permanganate... If root crops or potatoes grow in soil of a neutral or alkaline reaction, then it is recommended to process the prepared planting holes with a solution of potassium manganese immediately before planting (5 grams per bucket of water). For one well, 0.5 l of solution is taken. If the soil is acidic, then the result of using such a solution may be that the roots of the seedlings will burn. Therefore, in the holes made in acidic soil, it is recommended to pour a handful of coniferous needles or onion husks.

Prevention measures

After the site has been cleared of the wireworm, it is necessary to carry out special preventive measures every year. If this is not done, then the pest can settle in your garden again.

Main preventive measures:

1. At least once every 2 or 3 years, it is recommended to change the area used for growing a particular crop.
2. Every year in the spring, and even more so in the fall, the soil on the site is dug to the depth of a shovel bayonet. Digging up the soil in the fall, you raise the larvae to the surface of the site, which die in severe frost. During the spring digging, you will be able to get rid of the roots of the weed, which the pests also eat with pleasure.
3. In May and June, it is recommended to systematically loosen the soil on the site. In this case, the eggs of the click beetle, which are on the surface of the earth, die from the direct rays of the sun.
4. Systematically clean the area of ​​weeds, pay special attention to the wheatgrass. In the event that there are a lot of weeds on the site and you cannot get rid of them on your own, then Roundup is used to destroy them.
5. Make sure your garden is always clean. In autumn, remove all tops and grass from it, otherwise it will become an excellent place for the wintering of the pest.
6. It is recommended to plant marigolds in several places in the garden; their smell is very attractive to the wireworm. However, the juice of this plant is poisonous to the pest. You can scare off the larvae with the help of legumes (soybeans, beans, black beans and peas), because they have bacteria in the root system that release nitrogen. In order to increase the effectiveness of this method, it is recommended to plant phacelia together with legumes, which helps to neutralize the acidic soil.
7. You can scare off the pest with crops such as rape, spinach, rapeseed, mustard, buckwheat, sweet clover and oil radish. It is recommended to sow one of these crops regularly once every 2 or 3 years on the site where root crops or potatoes are grown. Due to this, the larvae in the ground will either die or become adult beetles and leave this area.
8. Gardeners, who sowed rye on the site to combat wireworms, say that it is not able to scare away the pest, but on the contrary, this culture is very attractive to him. In addition, rye takes a large amount of moisture from the soil, so it is highly undesirable to use it as a green manure.
9. In order to get rid of the pest very quickly, treat the surface of the soil with ordinary salt. This method can be used no more than once every 7 years.

If you have just begun to cultivate a piece of soil, then remember that there can be a huge number of wireworms in it. In this regard, during the first years, it is recommended to systematically select pests from the ground, as well as to clear the site of weed roots.In the early years, it is better to abandon the cultivation of root crops or potatoes on such a site; instead, it is recommended to plant nightshade, legumes or pumpkin crops.

How to get rid of a wireworm

Wireworm in potatoes

In the event that there is a lot of wireworm in the area where the potatoes grow, then in order to get rid of it, you will have to resort to all available methods. If in the area allotted for growing potatoes, despite all preventive measures, the larvae of the click beetle nevertheless appeared and began to actively spoil the tubers, then the first thing to do is to spread the bait in several places. For this, a not very deep hole is made, into which a piece of beet or carrot is placed. The hole on top must be covered. Instead, for every 1 square meter of the garden, you can dig one glass jar with a volume of 0.5 liters up to the neck in the ground, in each of which they put a small piece of root vegetable, they are covered on top. After two or three days, the bait is pulled out of the soil and burned along with the larvae that are in it.

Also, to get rid of a wireworm in a potato field, you can use an herbal infusion prepared from celandine, coltsfoot, nettle or dandelion according to the following recipe: add 0.2 kg of dandelions, or 0.1 kg of celandine, or 0 to a bucket of water , 2 kg of coltsfoot, or 0.5 kg of nettle, the product will be ready after 12 hours (the celandine infusion will be ready in three days). After it is filtered, soil is spilled with it on the site.

In order to protect potatoes from such an "invisible" pest, the fight against which can be very long, it is necessary to take the following preventive measures:

• potatoes are grown on the same plot for no more than two years, and it is recommended to alternate it with plants belonging to the Legumes family;
• experts advise, before planting the tubers, subject to treatment with a solution of the active substance Prestige, it will provide reliable protection for the potato from the wireworm, and also from the beetle, beetle and beetle.

In addition, you need to remember those preventive measures that were listed above. If everything is done correctly and in a timely manner, then your garden will be reliably protected from the larvae of the click beetle.

Wireworm in carrots

Wireworm can harm not only potatoes and carrots, but almost all root crops. But it is highly undesirable to use chemical agents in the fight against it, because the toxins in them can accumulate in root crops. If carrots are grown on an industrial scale, then in this case it is unlikely that it will be possible to cope with the pest without special pesticides. However, in an ordinary garden, you can try to protect carrots from the pest with harmless folk remedies.

To protect carrots from larvae, you can resort to the following methods:

1. Several shallow pits are made on the site, in which pieces of potatoes, beets or carrots are placed. Regularly, once every 2 or 3 days, the bait is checked and, if necessary, replace it, and burn the old one.
2. Spill the soil over the area with herbal infusion (see above).
3. It is recommended to plant beans, soybeans, marigolds, peas or black beans in the aisles of carrots.
4. For the purpose of prevention, 30 days before sowing carrots, you can plant mustard in the area where it will grow. The seeds are buried in the soil by only 15–20 mm, after the emerging seedlings reach a height of 15–20 centimeters, they are sprayed with Baikal EM 1 (diluted in water 1: 500), which accelerates fermentation, after which the plants are cut and embedded in soil with a cultivator or flat cutter. Then on this site you can sow not only carrots, but also beets, potatoes, and other root crops.

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