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Sometimes when harvesting potatoes you have to see numerous passages in the tubers. It happens that a yellow worm sticks out from such a passage. All this is the harmful work of the wireworm. This pest causes damage to many garden crops. In addition to potatoes, it can damage carrots, beets and other root vegetables, eat up the roots of young plants, which leads to their death. Therefore it is necessary to fight it.
What is wireworm
This is not an independent insect, but an intermediate, larval stage of the existence of the click beetle. Only it lasts for an unusually long time, in many individuals up to 4 years. The click beetle measures up to 2 cm and is dark brown or dark purple in color.
It depends on the composition of the soil and living conditions. The beetle itself does not cause any particular harm to agricultural crops. The same cannot be said about its larvae.
The beetles lay their larvae in early spring. In the first year, the larvae are small and not very mobile. But from the second year, their activity, and, therefore, harmful activity increases significantly.
Wireworms are able to move quickly in the soil, choosing places where there is enough food for them. They are especially good where it is humid and the acidity of the soil is high.They love to live where wheatgrass grows.
Destroy wheatgrass in your area so as not to create conditions for this harmful worm to live.
This dangerous pest must be combated.
Measures to combat wireworms
There are many ways to combat this pest. You can lay out insecticide-treated grain or bait before planting the main crop. The wireworm dies when it eats them. Crop rotation helps a lot. The wireworm does not consume food that is new to it well, so it does little damage to plants it is not accustomed to.
Green manures, which are sown after harvesting, help fight wireworms. Mustard, rapeseed, and rapeseed are best suited. Green manure needs to be buried in the ground. The essential oils released during their decay repel the pest. If you constantly add ground eggshells to the soil, the pest population can be significantly reduced.
If, before planting, you water the holes with tincture of nettle (500 g per ten-liter bucket) or dandelion (200 g per ten-liter bucket), this will protect the young roots from damage by wireworms.
But there are times when all these measures are not enough. Then you have to resort to chemicals. There are not so many insecticides for wireworms. Most of them are based on diazinon, which belongs to the class of organophosphorus insecticides. Diazinon was developed more than half a century ago by the Swiss company Siba Geigi. For a long time, this insecticide was used to control domestic insects. One of the substances based on diazinon is Provotox for wireworms.
Insecticide Provotox: description
The active ingredient content in this wireworm remedy is 40 g per kilogram. The drug is available in the form of granules. The weight of one bag can be 120 or 40 g. For application per 10 square meters. One sachet of 40 g is enough. The drug cannot be combined with other drugs. It can be stored for 2 years.
Action of Provotox
The active substance of the drug is a contact-intestinal poison. When a wireworm enters the body, it damages its nervous system, causing paralysis and death. The preparation must be applied once by evenly scattering it over the bed. The instructions say that the drug must be lightly incorporated into the soil.
It is also possible to add the drug directly to the holes when planting potatoes. Each bush will require only 2 to 4 pieces of granules.
Reviews of the use of the drug Provotox for wireworms indicate a significant decrease in the number of wireworms.
The usual time for application is spring. If the pest population is large, it is possible to incorporate the drug into the soil after harvesting. A windless day is chosen for processing. It should be done either in the morning or in the evening.
The protective effect of the drug lasts 6 weeks.
Toxicity of the drug and safety measures
Provotox belongs to hazard class 3 drugs. Those. it is of little danger to humans. Diazinon, on the basis of which Provotox is created, decomposes quite quickly in the soil.
Safety measures when working with Provotox include the use of a protective suit, respirator and gloves. Do not eat or smoke during treatment.After treatment, you need to change clothes and wash.
Advantages of Provotox:
- Does not have phytotoxicity.
- It has a long shelf life.
- Does not cause addiction to insects.
- Moderately dangerous for warm-blooded animals.
To prevent the wireworm from damaging potatoes, root crops and flowers, it is necessary to carry out a comprehensive fight against it, using both folk and chemical methods.
