Allotments 4 All

are there any potato's that are more resistant than others against wire worms ,loads of my pot's were ruined last year because of them.

newly tur ned grassland is full of wire worm, was this the cause pf wire worm  problems         

jtw

yes the allotment had not been used for at least 15 years before i took it over.

try pots of compost mixed with manure, plenty of water, dont let dry out, a little growmore now and again  and wait to harvest

for next year
dig spud bed drench in jays fluid.cover in black sheeting, leav for 12 monthdig and plant

I find Kestrel (2nd early) although I grow them as a maincrop, resist worm & slugs fairly well!

This is the reason I don't grow a maincrop as such I am plagued with slugs and Kestrel gets me through this problem!

Quote from: staris on January 18, 2010, 12:24:18
are there any potato's that are more resistant than others against wire worms ,loads of my pot's were ruined last year because of them.

See my link in the forum about the potato database - it gives resistance figures for many varieties.

Thanks

i'll try using jays fluid next year then, hopefully the worms will die out.

good idea with growing kestrel and not bothering with the mains, i do have a bit of trouble with slugs and the main crops always seem to get hit with blight anyway.

This is a common problem with a plot that has been in grass.
What to do with any area of grass that you want to grow potatoes in is to remove the grass in shovel sized pieces and place the grass sods onto the compost heap. The wireworm eggs live in the top couple of inches so if you dig the top 3" off them most of the problem will be solved.
If you have already planted the area and found the problem it will take around 3 seasons to get rid of them.
You could try cutting some potatoes into slices and placing them in area you wish use and they will act like a trap which you  can remove from the plot when you see wireworm activity.

http://www.potato.org.uk/department/knowledge_transfer/pests_and_diseases/ref.html?item=9

Potato council advice is dont grow potatoes there for 3 years.. :-[

My two points have been mentioned
Use Kestrel and the spud traps.
;D ;D ;D

This is very interesting advice. And the eggs are in the top few inches - so the old advice to dig the grass deep into the bed, maybe not so good?

Quote from: pigeonseed on January 18, 2010, 20:19:32
This is very interesting advice. And the eggs are in the top few inches - so the old advice to dig the grass deep into the bed, maybe not so good?

I would remove the grass from the potato area and therefore reduce the chances of wireworm.

Any wireworms will be in the soil. Don't let grass grow around the spuds, as this may attract the adult beetles. If you find them, they'll disappear over the next few years. You can use vegetable waste (bits of carrots, potatoes, peelings, etc) to attract them, and the wireworms are then removed with the waste.