Topic: WireWorm in spuds

[Ozzy]

Yo peeps

Just finsished uplifting me maris Piper maincrops so I has.. was like looking for buried treasure it was,, anyways reason I had to dig em all up is becus I has wireworms...  what looked like a massive maris piper when peeled was about the size of a roast potato... anyways...  what I am now doing is spiking a few spuds on sticks and pushing them into the ground.. and in 5 days time I pull up the stick and hopefully the spud will have dead loads of wireworms in it, then I discard the potato and the wireworms..... by all accounts wireworms are rife on newly dug over ground.. where there once was a lawn or just overgrown whatevermebob... looks nice now the ground where the spuds once was,  next year am gonna try growing in bags unless I hear detrimental results from here... am absolutely amazed at the damage that these lil peeps can do to the crops... if you has just done the newly dug over thang... then apparently they will be there and the advice is to plant and harvest ASAP.. and to keep cultivating the ground... thats what I just found out about these wireworm peeps and just thought I'd share...

Ozzy

[tim]

OZZY! What the h... is the Pests & Diseases' platform for??

Can't recall the instigator, but he must be a very thinking chap?? = Tim

[Hugh_Jones]

Ozzy, the old remedy (and I mean over 200 years old, but it still works) for wireworm is a crop of mustard, which wireworm dislike intensely.  If your spuds have been badly attacked get some mustard sown as soon as you lift them. Leave it in the ground over winter and dig it in in early spring for green manure. Do the same with any other bare ground you have where you don`t want to grow brassicas next year and you`ll reduce the wireworm population considerably.