New member - help!

[pammiep]

Hi Everyone - Have just rented a plot of land from farmer - 1/4 of acre. He has ploughed it for us. It was grass/meadow previous.  I have read that you have major problems with wireworm and leather jackets when you first plant.  Does anyone know any organic methods or do you have to resort to chemical methods.  Both my friend and me are v. new to veggie gardening but very enthusiastic.  Any help advice would be very welcome.  pammiep

[pammiep]

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Hello

Nematodes should do the job with leatherjackets which are mainly a problem on grassland.

Rotavate to expose the worms to predation, but also check your crop rotation as some plants are more susceptaible to ww than others.  Hoeing between rows also exposes the worms.  Rooks eat them when they are exposed.

Others on this site will be able to help more I am sure.

Jack

[manicscousers]

welcome, pammiep, welcome to the site, our plot was under grass, and water when we took it on, we had some problems with leatherjackets for the first year but it's calmed down this year..happy digging  ;D

[pammiep]

Thanks Jack & manicscousers for advice.  Do leather jackets go for all crops or are they choosy? Cant wait to get going.  Am bidding at moment for large greenhouse on ebay. fingers crossed.  Have one of those diddy plastic ones at mo. even so my tomatoes are going great. Just need some sun to ripen them.  ;D

[manicscousers]

well, they seemed to eat the roots of brassicas, lettuce, stuff like that..this year, it's the slugs, as it's been so wet, still, we're doing ok  :)
will keep everything crossed for your greenhouse  :)

[Oldmanofthewoods]

I beleive that leatherjackets go for grasses in a big way - pasture, barley, wheat etc. but don't bother with other stuff.  However, if the ground is full of the little rascals I assume that they will eat what's given.  Manic, what d'you reckon?

[cornykev]

Hi Pammie  welcome to the forum and good luck.  ;D ;D ;D

[manicscousers]

I beleive that leatherjackets go for grasses in a big way - pasture, barley, wheat etc. but don't bother with other stuff.  However, if the ground is full of the little rascals I assume that they will eat what's given.  Manic, what d'you reckon?

yes, we kept on turning them up and throwing them on the path for the birds to eat, they seemed to be worse in the poly, suppose the birds couldn't get to them there,  :)
ugly little bu**ers, too..the wireworm only touched the main crop spuds, we got desiree this year, seems to be ok  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I haven't had many leatherjackets, but I did have loads of wireworms which were a major problem at first. Some of my spuds came out looking like sponges. They do disappear over a few years.

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Robert, why do they go?  Or is it because the adults go looking for pasture and cereals? Jack

[Robert_Brenchley]

The adults look for grass to lay their eggs in. If you get rid of the grass, then the numbers steadily drop as the worms mature.

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Well, you know yer worms if not yer hedges.  Thanks