You work, you work all summer, like a black man on a plantation. In autumn you dig up potatoes, hoping to enjoy the harvest, but here … The crop is damaged by a wireworm. It is most offensive to realize that this is not just so, damaged tubers can begin to rot during storage, and even when used, most of the tuber is wasted. Then the gardeners think about how to get rid of the wireworm in the garden.
Garden, dacha feed not only their direct owners. Any living creature, including the wireworm, also strives to “sit on the tail” of the owner. This is the name of the larvae of the click beetle. The beetle itself does not pose any threat to humans, it, like butterflies, feeds on nectar, drinks it with dew, lives only two weeks. The main purpose of his life is to lay eggs in the soil. This is where the epic begins called "how to get rid of the wireworm in the garden." eggs developin about half a month or a month, depending on weather conditions. If it is dry and hot, then they will simply die. The wireworm is similar to cylindrical worms, from 1 to 2.5 cm long, elastic and hard to the touch. They like medium acid soil, moist with lots of weeds. Click beetle larvae live in the soil for 4 years. During this time, they go through the stage from eggs to pupae. Moreover, starting from the second year of development, they only do what they eat
everything that comes along the way. The larva is especially voracious before turning into a chrysalis, during the winter it transforms into a beetle that flies out in May.
Except for the fact that the wireworm loves wheatgrass roots, he eats everything that grows in the garden. But most of all for some reason goes to potatoes. Maybe it just takes up a lot of space. How to deal with wireworm on potatoes?
First you need to get rid of weeds, especially wheatgrass - a delicacy for larvae. Next, you need to correctly observe the agricultural technology of growing vegetables. The soil must be dug up in late autumn. This allows you to get rid of not only the wireworm, but also many other pests. During digging, it is worth adding ash or quicklime, eggshells, chalk, mineral fertilizers to the soil. Of course, if larvae or pupae are found during digging, they must be mercilessly destroyed. In the spring, before planting, the seeds (of almost all vegetables) must be soaked in potassium permanganate. With the same solution, some experts suggest
spray the furrows in the beds. People advise adding soaked onion peel to the potato wells. The beds in the summer should be deeply loosened. There are summer residents who, in the fall, once every five years, add s alt to the soil, and in the fall, dry crushed tansy flowers can be sprayed over the dug-up area.
How to get rid of wireworm in the garden with chemicals? There is a substance called diazinon. It is part of some drugs found on store shelves. These drugs are diluted according to the instructions and applied before planting vegetables in the ground.
There is another very good way to get rid of the wireworm in the garden. This is a planting of green manure plants, these include mustard and radish. They need to be sown after harvesting, the wireworm does not tolerate them. Dig up in the spring and you can plant vegetables.