Allotments 4 All

Hi guys and girls,

I'm starting to get very disheartened with my potato crops over the last few years.  My plot was basically grass for a number of years before I took it over.  I read somewhere, because of the grass, it is highly likely root crops, particularly potatoes, can be damaged by wireworm for the first couple of years after clearing the grass.

It has been well over two years and my spuds are still getting damaged.  The plot produced over 100lbs of potatoes last year and nearly every one was damaged.  I tried a trick I read about putting wood ash on the soil before planting.  It worked on my second earlies as they were the best I have ever grown.  Not a mark or scab in sight.

The wireworms like the main crop.  I've tried different varieties and I also rotate my crops.  I want to keep everything as organic as possible.  How can I stop the little buggers from burrowing into each and every potato?

When I plant the tubers, I dig a trench to one spits depth, half fill this with rotted manure, mix the soil into this then plant on top, finally covering and mounding up with the remaining soil.

I'm at my wits end, in fact I'm thinking of not growing spuds but there is something magical about seeing how many fat potatoes you can get from one root.

Look forward to the replies!

Difficult one! ,Bromophos and chlorophos are no longer with us.I think you will need to persevere with the digging and eventually the problem can get better.If you are growing other crops you can set traps (half spuds pierced with sticks in spring to try and catch some.good luck I know how dissappointing it can be.

I never thought of trying to trap them.  How effective is this going to be though?

very! ;)

I think it was T&M that was advertising a plant that atracted the wire worm then when infested died breaking the lifecycle therefore getting rid of the problem, soot I find is a good solution to slugs and wireworm, but as someone previous said without the nasty chemicals the farmers have access to you will always get a bit of damage.

The Garden Organics Website has a leaflet available about that plant, can't remember what it is though..
:-[

is it still wireworm or slugs..we're using nematodes next year, just on the main crop beds, our earlies and seconds don't seem to be as affected as our main, plus we use red seed potatoes, again, slugs don't seem to like them..can't remember if it's comfrey to stop scab..I'll have to look it up  :)

Most of my Maris Pipers were wiped out with wireworm, out of 300+ spuds only 20 were edible, :'( it was my only disaster with spuds in my four seasons of growing, I thought I had left them in too long ( 3rd week in Sept ) and that's why the wireworms had got at them, I could even see them crawling out of the holes with the last half dozen plants I dug up, as the scousers have said I may use nematodes next year, on our site they also recommended red spuds and also my earlies, Kestrels and PFA are unaffected.   ;D ;D ;D

Perhaps I need to put more ash down, although it is a bit alkali which can cause scabs.  Mind you, I'd rather the potatoes be a bit scabby than unusable.

I'm interested in the plant that attracts the wireworms then dies.  That sounds like a good option.  Any further information would be great.

I thought nematodes only attached slugs or do they get any little blighters in the soil?

Can anyone suggest the best varieties?  Reds seem to be a popular suggestion.

Time solves this one. I had it really badly; the one time I ever tried red duke of york they came out looking like sieves. It takes about five years after you get rid of the grass, which is their main food, before you really see the last of the wireworm. You still have the little slugs to contend with.

First point...Planting your potato

A potato root grows upward so therefor you should put the manure on top of the tuber not underneath.

Wire Worm....... Try using household bleach on your soil. two capfulls to a gallon of water one gallon to about a square yard.

The sacrificial plant may be this ?
http://www.alanromans.com/p-1646-foil-sisbranstons.aspx

Hope this helps ;)

Had exactly the same problem.  We put a lot of wood shavings manure in and shifted to Red wax skinned maincrop varieties (Desiree etc) and have never looked back.  Having tried the usually white skinned popular varieties a few times with little success, same old problem.  Also lifting as early as possible seems to help.

Peter H

Copied this from Allotment Gardening : Susan Berger.
Wireworms live underground and bore holes in carrots and potatoes.They are attracted to wheat, so grow a row of wheat between crops and then dig it up and burn it; or make a decoy of an old potato -- bury it, marked with a stick, then dig it up and burn it. They hide in long grass so once your allotment is fully cultivated they should disappear.     ::)    ???    :-\         ;D ;D ;D