Good afternoon, my reader. These tiny, seemingly harmless worms, getting started on the site, become a real headache for its owners. With their rigidity, they resemble pieces of thin wire, which is why they received the appropriate name - wireworms.
Please like and subscribe to the channel "About Fasenda". This will allow us to publish more interesting garden articles.
They are extremely voracious. They are especially attracted by planting potatoes, which is why these pests are also called potato wireworms.
In fact, wireworms are the larvae of click beetles, which do not pose any danger to the crop. But the larvae themselves are true monsters, literally gnawing everything in their path: both the ripe crop and the roots of crops, because of which the latter become defenseless against diseases, other pests, the development of plants slows down, and as a result they perish. Therefore, if a wireworm is wound up in the garden, it is necessary to make every effort to destroy it.
These pests can live in any type of soil, but they feel most comfortable in highly acidic and humid ones. The more rhizomes of various plants grow in them, the more attractive the site will be for the wireworm. And he will be registered on it for more than one season - in the form of larvae, the wireworm has existed for 5 years. Only after that it transforms into a beetle, mating and laying eggs, the number of which is measured in hundreds. And all of them soon turn into those same gluttonous wireworms, greedily attacking cultivated plants.
Ways to deal with wireworm
It is not easy to rid the garden of it. But there are still several effective ways to deal with it. To increase efficiency, it is recommended to use them in combination.
Digging a vegetable garden
It should be carried out immediately after harvest, until the larvae have gone deep into the soil in preparation for wintering. Then it will be much more difficult to deal with the wireworm. You need to dig the ground to the maximum possible depth, choosing the roots of the weeds (wireworm food) and, if possible, himself. The one that remains in the dug up soil will be defenseless against the first frosts and will die, because it does not tolerate sub-zero temperatures well. The dug earth and birds will attract, which will contribute to the fight against this pest.
Of course, you will not be able to completely get rid of wireworms with the help of digging, but reducing their number by 90 percent is quite. This figure can be increased during the spring digging of the vegetable garden.
Chemical method
The use of special chemicals against the wireworm is very effective and can lead to its total destruction. They are introduced into the soil in the fall, so that by the spring, when it is time to plant cultivated plants, they have lost a significant percentage of their toxicity. Those gardeners who are concerned about the environmental friendliness of the crop try not to use chemicals.
There are also such biological products that contain certain types of nematodes that feed on wireworm larvae and are able to completely lime it. For earthworms, beneficial microorganisms and plants, such preparations are absolutely harmless.
Siderata versus wireworm
It is known that sowing green manures increases the fertility of the soil, but also green manures and reduces its acidity, which is perceived negatively by wireworms. In addition, many green manure plants secrete substances that repel it and other pests. By regularly sowing them, you can achieve the displacement of click beetles from the site, which means that there will be no more new clutches. It is important to know that in the area where the wireworm lives, cereals cannot be used as green manure, since they are his favorite food.
Other ways to deal with wireworms
They imply the introduction of substances into the soil that kill the larvae or significantly reduce their number. Among such substances are:
- ammonium nitrate;
- ammonium sulfate;
- potassium chloride;
- lime and dolomite flour;
- chalk and wood ash;
- a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
You can also set up wireworm traps. To do this, in the fall, after harvesting, manure and straw, which are the favorite food of these pests, are spread over the site. They start to gather in them. With the onset of frost, heaps are burned together with the wireworms occupying them.
Do you know how to get rid of wireworms?
Original articleand many other materials, you can find on ourwebsite.
Read about watering and feeding blackberries in the following article:How to pour a blackberry to make the berry sweet