[JohnB47]

Hi.

Just thinking about this years choice of spud.

My first and second earlies never seem to suffer much from wire worm but my choice of main crop - Picasso, always has loads of those tiny holes.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for a nice floury main crop spud that would resist wire worm?

King Edward or Maris Piper might do but I've never managed to get them to grow to any size.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[sunshineband]

Nothing resists a wireworm I'm sorry to say

but you can reduce the population hugely in two ways before you plant

1. As you dig, pick every single orange (or white) one out and feed them to someone's chickens or dispose of them in some other way

2. Plant half potatoes about four inches doown across the affected area, fifteen or so inches apart. Either poke a stock inot the potato or mark the sites with a stick. Every 7 - 10 days, dig these up and carefully remove any wireworms from the potatoes -- they might be sticking out - or the surrounding ground.

Replant the potatoes again further over

Keep this up for about eight weeks and you will get rid of most of them

Just in time to plant your potato crops this year 

PS If we get sub zero temps, wireworms go deeper to avoid being frozen, so you will have to wait until temps are around 6 degC befoe they are active higher in the soil again

Hope that helps 

PS Cara is large sized maincrop and Ambo is a huge sized maincrop. Both make good roasties

[BabbyAnn]

As the earlies were largely unaffected, I wonder if you have keeled slugs (these live in the soil at root level)?  Most early potatoes tend to be hard and waxy and slug damage minimal in comparison to maincrop.  King Edwards and Maris Piper are however, the worst varieties to grow as I soon learned they are slug food on my plot.  Unfortunately I can't recommend a floury main potato, sorry

[Willow_Warren]

I can't help answer you question but I can confirm that the Maris Piper I grew last year had their fair share of tiny little holes in them!!!  Still ate them though (cut away the damaged bit) and they were tasty   Didn't grow massive but I had to cut the folliage down early due to suspected blight!

Hannah

[plot53b]

I had a similar issue last year, I grew 4 variaties, but the only ones affected were Cara, almost the whole row was decimated and the spuds were covered in small holes, I had assumed they were wireworm after doing some reading, but discovered they were actually very small slugs. I had a row of Kestral in the ground (in the next row) and they weren't touched.

On my plot, I won't be growing Cara again, but I think it is what works best for each of us and maybe just a trial and error?

[sowitgrowit]

I had trouble with Cara also.  They were lovely, but probably three quarters were riddled with holes.

Nearby Sarpo Mira were unaffected.  Strange.  Must be the tough skins (I assume!).

[BabbyAnn]

I had trouble with Cara also.  They were lovely, but probably three quarters were riddled with holes.

Nearby Sarpo Mira were unaffected.  Strange.  Must be the tough skins (I assume!).

I used to find Cara less affected than King Edwards but last year was an exceptional year perfect for slugs anyway (also I think Cara is related to King Edwards) - about 90% of my Cara crop was riddled with holes too 

I found Sarpo Mira had very dense flesh and superb as a slug resistant variety as well as blight resistance.  Shame that I didn't like the (lack of) flavour or cooking qualities.

[JohnB47]

Thanks everyone. Seems like I need to minimize the problem. I'll give your idea a go Sunshineband.

Hmmm. Now where to buy the cheapest spuds.

[Hobnails]

I had trouble with Cara also.  They were lovely, but probably three quarters were riddled with holes.

Nearby Sarpo Mira were unaffected.  Strange.  Must be the tough skins (I assume!).

I had trouble with Cara. Mine had more than the usual number of 'holes' but it was their keeping quality that was adversely affected this year. They were browning from the inside and I concluded they were blight affected. Ironic really since this was the only one of the varieties I grew that claimed to have some resistance to blight.
I like to keep Cara as our longest term keeper, but have had to use them early. I grew Toluca for the first time and we're well pleased with the results- taste, size, quantity etc. Best of all they are keeping well and should see us until we can dig the first earlies