The most terrible enemy of potatoes is the Colorado potato beetle. This pest swoops into the fields and destroys the green part of the plant. But if this is a visible danger, then there is also a hidden one. The fight against the wireworm can become much longer and more difficult. And often you find defeat only when you start digging up the crop. Pierced by the complex passages of the pest, the tubers lose their ability to keep, and even a significant part of the root crop will be removed during cleaning. How to recognize the danger in time and protect your landings from it?
What is a wireworm
This is the larva of the click beetle. Outwardly, it is a yellowish caterpillar or worm that really looks like a wire. They are very difficult to crush. A body covered with a chitinous shell can withstand significant loads.
The fight against wireworm should begin long before planting potatoes. Otherwise, the gluttonous larva will deprive you of the harvest. springthere is little edible on the site, so the potatoes you plant will become both a roof over your head and a delicious lunch. So, you can not wait for friendly shoots. No wonder there is such a trick. Potatoes are buried in the greenhouse in spring. A wireworm from the whole site is going to it. Then the root crop is removed and destroyed.
Wireworm Danger
If the site is affected by the larvae of the click beetle, then even if your plantings sprout and can produce a crop, there will be little joy from this. More than 60% of the tubers will be pitted with passages. While the damaged potato is in the soil, putrefactive bacteria, nematodes and worms colonize the pulp around the hole made. As a result, the crop becomes conditionally suitable for human consumption. And the wireworms themselves, remaining in the tubers after digging, are also not encouraging. Such potatoes cannot be boiled or peeled.
The fight against the wireworm must be carried out constantly, on all fronts. The fact is that the larva does not shun juicy roots. As a result, the plant does not receive proper nutrition and the yield is sharply reduced. If potatoes do not grow on your site, this does not mean at all that the danger has passed you. Yellow larvae with a dense shell are distributed almost everywhere. They will gladly destroy any horticultural crop. Therefore, the fight against the wireworm is one of the first tasks of the summer resident.
Prevention
The best solution to a problem is to prevent it. And the task is quite solvable. The wireworm loves moist soil very much, so one of the ways to fightis liming. To do this, you can use lime, chalk and ash. But the best and proven way is limestone, dolomite flour. It is applied to the soil only once every 3-4 years.
Egg shells are also used for the same purposes. Just scatter the crushed shell on the ground. But this method has a drawback. The concentration of substances from the shell dissolves quickly, so it is important to repeat the procedure regularly.
Autumn work
At this time, the larvae gather for wintering. Therefore, when digging the soil, try to collect them manually, remove the root crops remaining in the soil. The more pests you can collect and destroy, the less chance the beetle's offspring have for the next year. Usually in the fall, the colony gathers in the area where favorite root crops grow. It can be not only potatoes, but also carrots. Removing insects into the air leads to their death, especially if digging is done shortly before the onset of cold weather.
But this is just a measure to contain the population. The fight against potato wireworm should include a whole range of different methods. Due to the abundance of succulent food, the potato field is very attractive to this pest.
Spring work
With the onset of warm days, each summer resident is selected to his site. The first task is to put the garden in order and dig up the ground in preparation for the new season. If the area is small, try laying out vegetable traps. It can be any root crops. You can put a glass jar orcover the ground with a piece of polyethylene so that it warms up better, and dig in vegetables. Warmth and food are sure to attract larvae from all over the site.
Mechanical digging is another way to fight. During it, part of the larvae is destroyed by a shovel or a mechanical plow. Some individuals can be selected manually. Part of the population will die in the sun or be eaten by birds.
During spring work, it is recommended to apply fertilizers to the soil that contain nitrogen and ammonia. They are extremely unpleasant for the wireworm, so he will try to relocate to the neighboring site. In addition, the pest is uncomfortable on soils with low acidity. Experienced gardeners recommend adding a few superphosphate granules to each well.
Natural Pest Control
Since this vegetable is the basis of the diet for many, people take care that it does not contain harmful substances. For mechanical trapping of pests, baits and traps are often used, which are located along the perimeter of plantings or between ridges.
- Potato slices are recommended to be dropped to a depth of several centimeters. Change them after 2-3 days.
- All over the site, as well as along the perimeter of the beds, cereals or corn are planted. Their succulent roots attract pests and the main crop is relatively safe.
- On the border of the potato field, you can make bumpers from straw, tops and foliage. Beetles and grubs will collect underneath and can be handpicked or craftedchemicals.
Poison Traps
There are modern insecticides that will definitely lead to the death of the pest, but they are also dangerous for humans. It can be "Metarizin" and a number of other drugs. Therefore, they are used in a slightly different way. Take a few dozen tubers and soak in a poisonous solution. After that, tie them in gauze bags and dig them all over the site. The pest will not only gather in it, but will feed and die.
Repelling larvae
The fight against wireworm in a potato field should be diverse. Preventing pests from entering your site is also an important part of the job. The following can be taken as deterrent measures:
- watering the beds with infusions of coltsfoot, dandelion and celandine, nettle;
- soaking tubers in celandine infusion;
- unfolding when planting in the holes of onion peel;
- drop fresh spruce or pine needles along the beds;
- plant marigolds around the perimeter of the entire plot, they are not only very beautiful, but also drive away pests.
Crop rotation
If space permits, this can be an excellent measure to control wireworms. Soil pests, and bacteria too, do not affect plants that are planted in this place for the first year. They don't seem to know about no. But with each new year, the defeat will be more serious. Therefore, it is recommended to alternate potatoes withunattractive plants for the wireworm. These are legumes and spring rapeseed, buckwheat. Such measures will not only protect plantings from pests, but also enable the soil to have a good rest and get enough of useful microelements.
In August, after the harvest, you can sow a place for potatoes with mustard, alfalfa and clover. This will lead to the death of insects or their hasty relocation to a new place of residence. The fight against the wireworm in the area should go on all fronts so that the enemy has no chance to linger on it.
Chicken manure
This is a very caustic substance that can harm the plant itself. Therefore, we proceed as follows. Sawdust with chicken manure collected in the chicken coop must be applied to each hole when planting. A fairly large handful. This method of dealing with wireworm is natural and very simple. By autumn, you will notice that the affected tubers have become much smaller. Repeat the procedure every year - and soon there will not be a single insect left on the site. In this case, the seedlings will be juicy, strong, dark green.
Tuber dressing
If you choose radical means of struggle, then pay attention to drugs like "Prestige". Before planting, the tubers are soaked in a special solution, after which they cease to be attractive to insects. Two things to consider:
- Insecticides from the mother tuber will get into the future crop.
- The drug lasts only 60 days. After that, the pests again rush to your landings.
Therefore, for processingpotatoes of early varieties, which are dug up after 40 days, this method is not suitable. And if the ripening time is at least 80 days, then additional methods of control are required so that the pest does not spoil the already prepared tubers. All the methods listed above will work in this case. You can plant a salad between the rows closer to the expiration date of the drug. The pest prefers it to all other garden plants, so it will attack the succulent roots. If you notice that the leaf is withering, dig up the bush and destroy the wireworms.
Instead of a conclusion
The fight against wireworms in the garden is a set of measures, each of which has the right to exist. However, none of them can be called complete and sufficient. Therefore, each gardener chooses several of them for himself. Usually these are traps, crop rotation, planting plants that are a delicacy of the pest or scare it away from the site.
