Today's article is about how to get rid of wireworm. Usually they annoy in the first years of development of the plots, but also occur in those who have been tilling the soil for a long time. The wireworm is seen by many gardeners as such an indestructible creature that “steals” and destroys crops and even flowers. Are these larvae so indestructible and why do they live on our sites at all? Is it worth it to be so afraid of them to run after toxic chemicals? Let's look into this "hard" pest today.

Click beetle and wireworm

Features of click beetles:

• come in a variety of colors, but are mostly dark brown and black. The main difference from other beetles is that they turn over from their backs to their legs with a characteristic click - because of this they are called click beetles. Some of the most common pests are dark click beetle, striped beetle beetle, steppe beetle beetle;
• prefer to sit in the shelter during the day. Hide under leaves, lumps of soil, boards, etc. - their favorite thing;
• an area with moist and acidic soil, covered with thickets of grasses, is paradise for them. Although quite willing to live on dry and sandy soils. The thing is that there are a huge number of species of these beetles;
• they love areas with wheatgrass, but if you don’t even have wheatgrass, and the site has not been cultivated for a long time and is overgrown with herbs, then the probability of meeting these beetles is very high;
• lay eggs mainly in June-July;
• beetles hibernate in the soil.

Features of wireworms:

Unlike wireworms false wireworms can damage seedlings fruit trees love cucurbits and sugar beets. True cereals are also their delicacy.

How to get rid of the wireworm and is peaceful coexistence possible

Sepp Holzer always says that every plant, insect or animal - whether useful or pests - is needed nature. I'm sure that's the way it is, we just don't always understand their purpose yet. Wireworms can be one of the creators of soil fertility. Why not? We don't even always understand our neighbors, but here is the underground world... Maybe they point to some problem in the territory of their residence.

But we want a crop of various crops, and carrots, beets and potatoes are one of the most beloved root crops and somehow we don’t want to give them to the larvae. Let them live in a different place, and not in our garden. By at least we do not need them in the beds and flower beds.

The wireworm and the fight against it. Who will win?

There are observations that beetles leave cultivated lands, and, accordingly, there are no (or almost no) wireworms on such lands. If there is no couch grass in your beds, the lands are not acidic, various crops are grown, then the wireworm will leave and you can safely grow any vegetables, berries, root crops and flowers.

So, let's look at some ways to deal with the wireworm, as well as ways to outwit it.

I immediately warn you that liming the soil and sowing green manure does not immediately expel the larvae, but simply reduces their appetite and “speaks” of the need to leave this place. Some larvae die of starvation, and some pupate, turn into beetles and leave in search of better home. If you want to get rid of them faster - use a set of measures: green manure, ash, bait, getting rid of couch grass. The main thing is to be patient for the next 2-3 years. It may be possible to get rid of them earlier, but this is unlikely. The main thing is that you spoil their appetite and they will inflict significantly less harm than if you leave everything to chance.

How to get rid of a wireworm. Choose the methods of dealing with wireworm that are suitable for you:

1. The wireworm does not like such plants:
   mustard;
   colza;
   rape;
   oil radish;
   sweet clover;
   black beans, beans, soybeans, peas;
   buckwheat;
   spinach.
   It is recommended to sow these crops for 2-3 years on the site, and during this time all the wireworm larvae that lived in the ground will either die or turn into beetles and leave in search of a better place for them.
2. The wireworm does not like a neutral and alkaline environment; accordingly, when planting plants, you can throw a little ash into the holes or rows. Sometimes onion peels are also thrown, or both ashes and onion peels together.
3. Phacelia is a green manure plant that changes the acidity of the soil towards neutral. The wireworm also does not like her neighborhood. If phacelia is sown in a mixture with annual legumes, then the effect of improving the soil is even higher.
4. The wireworm loves marigolds (tagetes), but it is believed that the juice of these flowers is poisonous to him. So that's an additional plus for sowing marigolds on the site.
5. An excellent method is wireworm lures. Since they love potatoes, feed them to them. Old potatoes must be cut (in half, into quarters or circles) and buried in some places in the garden (preferably along the edges and at a distance of 1 m from each other). Bury not deep - 7-15 cm deep. The depth depends on the laying time of the bait. If it is still cold, then it is possible to a depth of 15 cm, and if it is warmer and the earth has warmed up, then it can be higher. In any case, if there is still nothing to eat in the garden, then the wireworms will crawl onto the bait. Be sure to mark these places in order to check the baits from time to time (every 1-3 days) and destroy the wireworms that have gathered in them.
   IMPORTANT! Do not add ashes to the bait, otherwise they will not crawl there.
   It is better to start making such baits long before planting. cultivated plants(1-2 weeks before planting). You can continue to place the bait at the time when the seedlings are planted or the seeds are sown.
   You can also use carrots for bait, but according to my observations, usually by the spring there are more potatoes left than other root crops. Potatoes are not so pathetic to use for bait.
6. Since click beetles and their larvae love wheatgrass, you need to get rid of this weed in the beds. I will tell you how to do this in the next article. However, getting rid of wheatgrass is only part of the fight against wireworm.
7. There is an opinion that the wireworm (and wheatgrass too) does not like the neighborhood of dahlias. Well, try planting a few bushes in the flower beds, for example.
8. Sowing rye against wireworm is questionable. Some believe that she helps to get rid of them, but in fact she attracts these larvae to herself more. You can use it as a bait and simply pull out the plants along with the root, where there will surely be a lot of wireworm. But I would hardly bother so much, and you as you want. In addition, rye takes on a lot of moisture, which can lead to a decrease in the yield of other crops.
9. It is believed that the wireworm lives exclusively in the soil and does not crawl out on the surface by itself. Exactly this used by gardeners natural farming when growing potatoes in virgin lands. What are they doing? When planting, they do not bury potatoes, but only lay them out on the surface. Then they fall asleep with straw and other mulch (very thick layer). Thanks to this, the potato gives good harvest, and the wireworms remain in the ground. Personally, I have not tried this method, but there is common sense in such actions. And if you throw 1-2 seeds of black beans next to a potato (they are low and do not require tying to a support), and add a little ash, then the chance of success will increase significantly.
10. Some summer residents make traps for the beetles themselves, collect them in jars and then destroy them. Someone is crushing all the dark and black beetles in a row. BUT, are they sure that all these bugs are harmful? Maybe there are a lot of useful creatures among them? By the way, the ground beetle is also dark ...
    It is in terms of protection beneficial beetles I will not dwell on this method of dealing with beetle parents of larvae. In general, I am against alarmists who kill all living creatures indiscriminately. Kill your assistants - stay on your own with pests.
    

And now about preventive methods:

• DO NOT BRING LAND FROM OTHER AREAS, otherwise you can bring with it both pest larvae and seeds of various weeds. Also, do not abuse rotted manure (I generally keep quiet about fresh), as it makes the soil more acidic.
• In the first year after raising the virgin lands, where there are many wireworms, it is better not to plant potatoes and those plants that the wireworm loves in the ground. Instead, you can plant seedlings of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and also grow leguminous plants, greens, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini and other pumpkin.
  If you still want to grow “forbidden” crops, then you will have to devote a little more time to traps.

I wish harmony in your gardens!

A vegetable garden and a garden is an attractive place for all kinds of pests that love to feast on the fruits that you grow. One of the types of fruit pests, and perhaps the most common of them, is the wireworm, which gardeners most often have to deal with. There are many methods of dealing with it, and we will consider some of them in this article. But first, let's figure out what kind of "beast" this is - a wireworm.

A small orange worm that lives in household plots and mercilessly spoils the fruits of potatoes, carrots and beets, the wireworm is the larva of the click beetle. This insect is black in color with a matte shell, similar in appearance with a harmless beetle. This bug got its name because of its peculiarity: if it is turned over on its back, it will make a clicking sound. Life cycle nutcracker lasts about 4 years. The larvae that have just hatched from the eggs are not dangerous for root crops, but over time they become a real "scourge" of the gardener. They live in wet soil throughout the cycle, and only after 3-4 years the larvae turn into beetles.

The worm is a wireworm. A photo

The wireworm got its name because of the characteristic yellow-brown color of the shell, which resembles copper wire. At the same time, the larvae are long and thin, which makes them even more similar to this product.

What is dangerous wireworm

Wireworm is a threat to potatoes and other crops

Most of all, the wireworm loves to eat the roots of the most common weed grass - wheatgrass, but does not disdain other fruit roots, which leads to the death of plants and damage to the crop, its decay and the inability to store damaged tubers.

It is bitter and insulting to look at what the wireworm has done with the fruits of your labor, and therefore do not let him down and use all known methods to deal with him.

Wireworm control methods

The wireworm is difficult to bring out, but still you can find justice for him. There are several methods of dealing with larvae:

Mechanical (agrotechnical) includes the obligatory digging of the garden in the fall. Thus, it is possible to take out to the surface of the earth or into its upper layer the larvae that have already fallen into hibernation. Under the influence of cold, the wireworm will die.

It will not be superfluous to regularly loosen the soil around the plants - the wireworm does not like this.

Weed yours regularly household plot and the area around it. The wireworm loves wheatgrass, and therefore the removal of this plant and other weeds will significantly reduce its menu, forcing it to go to hell or die.

Chemical the method of destroying the wireworm is very effective. There are several ways to use chemistry in this difficult struggle.

Way	Application rules
Liming acidic soil with the help of chemicals	The soils in the garden area inhabited by the wireworm are fertilized with ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate at the rate of about 25 grams per 1 square meter. Then, during the growth and development of plants planted on the site, they must be fed with the same fertilizers. The wireworm will not like this "additive", and it will die over time.
The use of potassium permanganate	Dilute potassium permanganate in water at the rate of 5 grams of potassium permanganate in 10 liters of water and pour the solution when sowing root crops into each well for half a liter.
Liming with chalk, ash, shells	The use of these substances will reduce the acidity of the soil and make it objectionable to the wireworm. Ash is brought in in the fall for digging at the rate of 1 liter per square meter.
Insecticides	Before digging the earth or during the period of planting root crops, insecticides can be applied to the soil. You will need 5 kg of superphosphate granules, which are scattered on polyethylene and sprayed with some kind of pesticide (for example, decis extra - 4 ml, karate - 1 ml), diluted in a water-acetone solution. To obtain such a solution, you need to take 80 ml of water and add 200 ml of acetone to them. The finished preparation is dried and then scattered around the garden, and then the soil is dug up. The above amount is enough to process 100 square meters soil.

Fighting wireworm with baits

It is done like this:

1. Until the moment of landing strung on a fishing line small fruits potatoes, carrots, radishes are buried in the ground to a depth of about 10 cm, keeping the distance between the baits also about 10 cm. This is best done in spring, when the soil is moist.
2. Mark the beginning and end of the line with twigs.
3. Soak the bait in the soil for about 3-4 days. Hungry after the winter, the wireworm will gladly pounce on the treat.
4. After 3-4 days, remove the bait with the larvae from the ground.
5. Boil the wireworm with boiling water. Worms can be used as bird feed.

You can also attract wireworms with germinated seeds of wheat, oats, and corn. They are sown between rows before sowing crops. When the plants grow up, pull them out along with the larvae. This method is used until the site is completely cleared of larvae. It can be applied all year round if you regularly water your vegetable garden or garden.

Video - effective methods of dealing with wireworms in the garden

Folk ways

You can fight the wireworm with one of the methods used by our grandmothers.

Onion peel - as a tool to combat wireworms on the site

Method	Application
Herbal infusion of nettle for watering	Take 0.5 kg of nettle, which must be carefully chopped. Then fill the resulting slurry with water - 10 liters is enough. Let it brew for 12 hours.
Dandelion infusion for watering	It is done in the same way as preparing a solution from nettles, only dandelion herbs are enough to take 200 grams. Infuse this solution for 12 hours.
Irrigation celandine	Take 100 grams of celandine and grind it, then pour 10 liters of water. Let it brew for about 3 days.
onion peel	During the winter, accumulate as much onion peel as possible and, when sowing potatoes, lay a handful of it in each hole.
	Grind the eggshell and periodically during holiday season scatter it over the area.
thick kvass	Prepare kvass, then put the rest of it, along with yeast and slices of bread, into stockings and bury it in the garden. Top part the stocking should be on the ground. Wait a couple of days and take the stockings out of the ground - the whole wireworm will gather in them, which will only have to be killed.
Seeding other plants	Along the perimeter of a potato field or beds, beans and beans are sown. Peas, calendula or marigolds.

To reduce the risk that the wireworm will settle in your garden or return after you got rid of it with great difficulty, follow some preventive measures:

• In the fall, carefully dig up all the root crops - this way you will not provide the wireworm with food for the winter.
• Attract the enemies of the click beetle to the garden - these are birds: titmouse, starlings. Build birdhouses and feed the birds. And they, in turn, will catch all the clickers in your garden.
• Weed the garden from weeds - female nutcrackers simply love to settle and lay eggs near burdock or wheatgrass, because young larvae feel good there. Remove the weeds - destroy the "nursery" for the wireworm.
• Correct crop rotation: remember that soils from regular use are depleted, and pests settle in them. Periodically change the place of sowing crops in the garden. Planted potatoes on the right - plant on next year in the left half of the area.
• Use green manure plants such as mustard. Rotting, the plant releases into the soil substances that the wireworm does not tolerate. It is sown in the fall, when the crop is already harvested. After the plant has grown 10 centimeters, cut the stems and bury them. Sow the mustard again in the spring and then, after emergence, bury it in the soil again.

The main rule is to carry out all preventive measures together with your neighbors in the country so that the larvae do not return to you again.

Wireworm pest, which lives in the soil, most often it annoys potato fields, as it perforates potato tubers. With numerous wireworm damage, the potato becomes unsuitable for storage, as it quickly rots, and the damaged areas have to be deeply cleaned for food.

The wireworm is not a worm, but the larva of the click beetle, like a caterpillar, only living in the soil and feeding on the roots and tubers of plants instead of leaves. The wireworm of this pest was named for its association with wire, the body of the larva is 1-3 cm long, narrow and rigid, it is difficult to crush this pest, only tear it in half with your fingers.

The wireworm has a conspicuous color of bright yellow or Brown color. On the front, a brown head and small legs are clearly visible. The larva of the wireworm is mobile, moves quickly in loose soil and literally drills into the roots, tubers and root crops of plants.

The wireworm is dangerous for most vegetable and ornamental crops. In early spring when there is still little greenery, the wireworm rushes at everything it finds and can feast on the roots of newly planted seedlings. When plants planted in the ground suddenly wither, digging up their roots reveals the damaged main roots. The wireworm also eats hatched seeds of cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins. The first harvest from a radish garden may be unusable after damage to succulent root crops by a wireworm.

The wireworm pest does not disdain and decorative garden plants, making holes in the roots of irises, tulip bulbs, ornamental onions.

The wireworm remains active all season from early spring to late autumn. In the spring, the soil pest is dangerous for seedlings, eating their tender roots, and also damages the tubers of newly planted potatoes. In autumn, the wireworm can significantly reduce the quality of the crop, gnawing passages in the roots of carrots, beets, radishes, daikon, radishes and potato tubers. You can save the crop from the wireworm if you study the pest in order to choose pest control methods and agrotechnical measures.

Description of the wireworm

The click beetle is not dangerous for plants, but it is a source of reproduction and spreads pest larvae in our gardens.

The click beetle is black or dark brown in color, the body of the beetle is 1-2 cm long, there are small antennae on the head. When in danger, the beetle makes a click and bounces, for which it got its name. In the spring, four-year-old larvae degenerate into beetles, they come to the surface. Females from May to June lay small white eggs in garbage or top layer soil. There are only 3-5 eggs in the oviposition, however, during the season, the female beetle can lay up to 150 eggs. After about a month, larvae appear from the eggs, which go into the soil and live for 3-4 years, and on the fifth they are reborn into beetles.

In the first year of life, the larvae of the click beetle are still small, they cannot do much harm to plants, they feed on small roots. From the second year of life, the wireworm increases in size and can gnaw through large roots and tubers of plants.

The wireworm hibernates in the ground, with a cold snap it goes deeper, and in the spring it moves closer to the upper layer. Wireworms love moderately moist soil and warmth. Pests prefer places where the soil is acidic, usually the following weeds grow in such areas: wood lice, horsetail, horse sorrel, caustic buttercup. The accumulation of the wireworm is observed next to the wheatgrass weed, since the roots of this plant are a favorite delicacy of the larvae.

How to get rid of the wireworm in the garden

Based on information about the life cycle and behavior of the wireworm pest, the following methods of controlling the wireworm have been developed. First, we will change the habitat conditions of the pest to unfavorable so that it leaves the area where our vegetable plants grow.

If the soil in the garden is acidic, then it is necessary to regularly lime it. It is better to apply lime in autumn for digging, 200-300 g per 1 sq.m. Reduce soil acidity wood ash, ground eggshell, they can be applied when planting.

The wireworm does not like the application of mineral fertilizers. Potassium chloride is scattered on the ground in the fall and dug up so that chlorine, which many plants cannot stand, leaves the soil by spring. In the spring, before planting, add ammonium nitrate 20-30 gr. per 1 sq.m. Mineral fertilizers not only scare away the wireworm from the site, they also saturate the soil necessary elements for plant growth.

You should clean your garden from weeds, especially from wheatgrass, the roots of which attract wireworms. There are plants whose smell the larvae do not tolerate - these are beans, beans, peas. To scare away the pest, plant these plants between rows.

Wireworm fight difficult and lengthy. It is impossible to remove this soil pest in one year. It is necessary to carry out a set of measures every year to combat the wireworm. Dig up the soil and select bright yellow larvae by hand, catch wireworms and beetles on traps, use wireworm preparations.

Start the fight against wireworms in early spring. The townsfolk have come up with several ways to catch the pest with bait.

The smell of fresh potato tubers attracts the wireworm. The potatoes are cut into large pieces, they are strung on sticks and dug into the ground to a depth of 10-20 cm every 50-80 cm. Sticking sticks will be like indicators of placed baits. Every 2-3 days, dig up pieces of potatoes, select pests from them and destroy them. On the bait, freshen the cut or use new potato pieces to keep the scent strong and dig back into the ground. This is a laborious method of collecting a pest from the soil, but effective; most of the larvae can be destroyed over the summer.

The wireworm is also caught on sprouted seeds of oats, corn, and barley. The seeds of these plants are sown in rows or islands, 2-3 weeks before planting vegetables. After the emergence of seedlings, they dig it out, and the gathered pests are selected from the tender roots.

When fighting wireworms, it is necessary to catch not only larvae from the soil, but also beetles, which are a source of reproduction and spread of pests. Beetles also love the smell of fresh potatoes. Take glass jar or plastic bottle with a cut neck and a wall height of about 12 cm. Place chopped potatoes or peels on the bottom. Dig the jars into the ground so that their neck is at ground level. Beetles, following the smell, will fall into the jars, but they will not be able to get out.

Preparations for the fight against wireworm.

Insecticides are effective means to combat wireworms - these are chemicals with damaging substances nervous system insects, but they are harmless to plants. In stores, you can buy funds from the wireworm "Bazudin", "Zemlin", "Initial", which are mixed with sand or sawdust and poured into each hole when planting. Means from the wireworm in the granules "Vallar" and "Provatox" can not be mixed with sand. The drugs have a long period of action up to 40-50 days.

Folk remedies for wireworm are prepared on the basis of herbs with insecticidal properties. Take a bunch of celandine or pyrethrum, chop the greens and boil for 10 minutes. Strain the broth, dilute with 10 liters of water and pour the solution over each well.

When working with insecticides, be careful, as they are not safe for human health.