WASHINGTON — You have done all you should do that is right. Planting seed potatoes of good quality, spacing, adequate irrigation–and now, when they are ready to pick, the tubers are full of small holes. Unmarketable. Unsellable. Disappointing.
Wireworms to work the lot
These pests that inhabit the soil do not alert to their presence. They wait. They thrive on roots and developing tubers in silence and when you spot the damage, it is too late to put in a lock. To have actual organic worms control, however, the solution is not during harvest time. It begins even preceding planting -with the preparation of your soil.
Why it is so difficult to beat wireworms
The larval stage of click beetles is known as wireworm, and can survive in soil several years. This is what makes them dangerous. They do not happen once in a while, but accumulate compared to others.
They grow well in moist soils with lots of organic matter and they are particularly abundant in areas that have been either grass-grown or used inappropriately in crop rotation. Having developed, they feed on parts of plants that are located underground and therefore regular sprays of insecticides by wireworms are rather useless.
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