How nice it is to dig up large potato tubers in the fall!
And what a disappointment it is when it turns out to be all dug up by traces of the life activity of wireworms - the main enemy of potatoes...
In order to avoid the described situation, we suggest studying the question: what conditions need to be created so that wireworms do not encroach on our potatoes?
Of course, we are not talking about caustic chemicals: we grow ecologically clean crops.
1. Wireworm loves acidic and slightly acidic soils. To keep it away from your beds, be sure to deacidify the soil with lime, dolomite flour or ash.
2. Wireworms hate legumes. Plant peas, vetch, and lupine as green manure. Then, by the time the main crops are planted, the presence of the pest in the beds will be minimal.
3. The wireworm feeds on potatoes and lives in the roots of weeds - this is its home. It is especially attracted to couch grass. We must fight weeds and destroy couch grass, removing it along with the root!
4. Observe crop rotation and return potatoes to their previous place no sooner than after several years. Not everyone can afford such a game of hide-and-seek, but if you plant only a couple of potato beds, this method of fighting wireworms is a must!
5. Use folk remedies to combat wireworms: onion peel, ash, eggshells or mustard cake. Add 1 tbsp of each remedy to the hole or scatter them over the entire furrow. Another way to "evict" wireworms is to apply these remedies over the entire area of the plot.
