Until the summer of 2010 I have never had any serious problems with the wireworm. I regularly carry out preventive work and thought that this is enough to forget about this pest. But I was wrong.
May be due to the fact that the summer was hot, it may be due to some other reasons, but my garden was attacked by a huge number of wireworm larvae. Suffered all - potatoes, carrots, beets and some other crops. I did not know where to go. It has lost more than half of the harvest. It was necessary to take some measures. After all, if wireworms divorced, then next year it will be even greater. The larvae of this pest are active for 3-4 years. Since August I began to actively explore the wireworm and how to deal with it.
I managed to find quite a few methods, so I made the whole strategy of struggle.
1. Destroy the pest during harvest
So how about a problem I discovered towards the end of the summer, my struggle began with the harvest. I dig roots and immediately sent to the fire those on which there were traces of defeat this pest. Act had to be radical, so I do not even cut spoiled part. All go into the fire.
Was digging very deep, it was necessary to get all the roots, or wireworms would continue to exist. On this procedure it took me 2-3 times longer than a normal harvest.
2. Spread fall traps
After the harvest of root crops has been removed, I started to create traps. Scattered pile of hay and straw on the garden beds and waited. I decided to cover part of the boards and the film portion left without shelter. A week later I gathered all the traps and immediately burned.
The method proved to be quite effective, as wireworms actively began to get into preyuschuyu tops. During that, I collected plant remains, I've seen quite a lot of larvae. It made me happy, my struggle is gradually yielding results.
3. Deep digging before the frosts
Hibernate wireworm larvae go into the ground, so I decided to spend the late autumn digging. It must be done has been right before the onset of frost.
I chose the last day with a positive temperature, and in the late afternoon start to dig a vegetable garden. I called for help anyone who was. We had to dig a lot and immediately. Dug to a depth of bayonet spade, trying to turn a lump of earth upside down. We finished late at night.
I think we were able to dig up a lot of larvae, which are then frozen.
4. spring bait
In the spring, before the landing root vegetables, I began to set traps. It is placed on self-made hooks from wire pieces of potatoes and carrots. Such bait dug into the ground at a depth of about 8-10 cm. After 4 days, I began to collect the traps. In some it was quite empty, and where there were even a few pests.
Such a procedure I've done up to the landing of the main crops.
5. soil disinfection before planting
Just before the landing, I processed the soil solution of potassium permanganate. Diluted with about 5 grams of powder into a 10-liter bucket of water. On each next bush it took about half a liter of solution. In any case shed soil in the furrows, and next to the beds.
6. Adding onion peel during planting time
During the planting of potatoes in each well I has contributed little dry onion peel. This was supposed to scare wireworms from root crops themselves.
In addition to onion skin, in the aisles, I added a little wood ash.
7. Processing crops summer
In the summer, I went on an active struggle. Once a week, I shed all roots nettle. In a 10-liter bucket of water and urged about 500 grams of chopped nettles. On every bush took about half a liter of infusion.
When finally it was time to harvest, I was pleasantly surprised. My efforts were not in vain. The loss amounted to no more than 10%. It was a real victory.
The original of this article, as well as other materials about the pests, you can find on my site - I managed to get rid of wireworms in the garden: a personal experience