[st0ne5ish]

Dug over another bed today and added manure, I noticed a lot of yellow maggot/worm things, I am pretty sure they are wireworms.

The allotment is new and only ploughed this autumn, it used to be just grassland at the end of a field.

I squashed the ones I found but I expect there are a lot more, everything I read about these is bad, are my crops in for a hammering in the summer?

Anything I can do to get rid of them? Are they likely to stay or disappear now the grass has gone?

[madcat]

They take 3 years to go completely ... but (speaking from experience, our plot was like yours) year one is the worst.    All I can advise is squish any you find, love your robins, blackbirds etc because they love eating wireworms, expect to lose seedings so plant out small plants where you can and dont bother with carrots in year one.   Oh and pass on main crop spuds ...  they are in the ground too long and the wireworms are followed by the slugs into the spuds.  stick to 2nd earlies for the first year.

[fatcat1955]

Grow some agricultural mustard. Wireworms love it, they turn into beetles and fly off.

[madcat]

Do they?    Oh, i wish someone had told me that 3 yrs ago!!    Stone5ish is far enough south that he might be able to get a dose of mustard as green manure away this autumn and get a head start on the problem ....

[Salmo]

Fatcat may have in mind potato eelworms which are induced to hatch if mustard is planted but cannot develop without potatoes roots present to feed on?

Avoid planting crops until the Spring and then do not be in a hurry to plant early.. Do not cover the soil with fabric over the Winter as this will protect the wireworms from the birds. Cultivate the soil lightly whenever the weather and soil allow you to do so to expose the wireworms to weather and birds.

[TheSpartacat]

"Dig and pick" worked for me.
My plot was previously all grass and brambles and was finding hundreds of them.
The patch I grew potatoes on, after I'd removed all the brambles, I then dug it over 4 more times- taking out more missed roots, bindweed and more wireworm...
My patch was VERY popular with the local birds.
I think the turning and re-turning of the soil really helped get most of them out.... and my potato crops had NO wireworm damage (It was a shock to me too, I was expecting the worst!)

But yes, as you prob imagine.. it was HARD work!
But worth it. The soil in that patch is SO beautifully aerated and crumbly now (Carrots will be there next year)

You could also use the potato kebab trick... cut some potatoes in half, skewer them on a stick to help you find them--- poke/bury them into the ground at regular intervals before you intend to plant... the wireworm gather in the potatoes... and after a few weeks, remove... and replace the spuds and repeat that a few times?

Good luck

[JohnB47]

I wonder if your success, TheSpartacat, was also influenced by your choice of potato to grow?

I grew King Edward, Picasso and a few first and second earlies. The KE had no, or very few wireworm holes (ask me when I've finished eating them) , nor did the few first early spuds that I'd left in the ground til a few days ago (they were Vanessa - tasteless). By contrast, the Picasso had loads of holes.

Next year I'll base my decision of what to grow on whether or not they are suseptable to wireworm.

[TheSpartacat]

I wonder if your success, TheSpartacat, was also influenced by your choice of potato to grow?

I grew King Edward, Picasso and a few first and second earlies. The KE had no, or very few wireworm holes (ask me when I've finished eating them) , nor did the few first early spuds that I'd left in the ground til a few days ago (they were Vanessa - tasteless). By contrast, the Picasso had loads of holes.

Next year I'll base my decision of what to grow on whether or not they are suseptable to wireworm.

I'm not sure John, I grew quite a few varieties: Lord Rosebery, Ulster Sovereign, Maris Peer, Gladstone and Kerrs Pink... there were a couple with a few slug holes (nothing too depressing) and the Lord Rosebery's had a touch of something like scab, but not scab.... (someone posted a similar skin condition in the potato results thread)
If they all were wireworm resistant then i got really lucky with my choices as I hadn't even been thinking of wireworm when i bought them.

I wonder has anyone else noticed particular varieties that seem more susceptible to wireworm, because thats really useful info. I'll be moving my potatoes in a freshly dug area next year, so will steer clear of Picassos now you've said that!