Does anyone have advice on how to control wireworms in vegetable beds? This year’s spud crop is nearly inedible! Last year there were just a few damaged potatoes but we didn’t see them at all before 2019.
I have been rotating the area I plant potatoes every year. I know some of you clever people will know just what to do! Thanks in advance!
We have the same problem. You can minimize them by rotating your crops, but I think it’s a known issue on the Island and pretty hard to do anything about. Maybe someone else has a better idea about it than me though!
Welcome to the forums, btw! 
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You won’t necessarily like our strategy…we use potatoes as bait to attract wireworms to keep them from attacking our dahlia tubers.
They are the larval stage of click beetles; they live underground for 4-5 years. The best solution we’ve found is destroying each one as we see them. And, when a potato bait has attracted enough, that gets harvested and destroyed.
You can plant bait potatoes over the winter to attract them during the fallow season.
Needless to say, click beetles are dispatched when seen.
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We have grown potatoes in wire cages that sit on the ground for three or four years. The cages sit in the same location each year - at the end of our compost array. Last year we saw an increase in wire worm infiltration in the potatoes, though not enough to make them inedible. This year I put a membrane (in this case some old rubber pond liner) down between the ground and the soil in the wire cages. No wire worms at all this year. I will grow potatoes in the same place next year using the same process, and it will likely work, but will let you know. I also change the soil in the cages each year. Hope this helps!
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Thanks for your insight!
Thanks for your suggestion, I will try the bait potato process.
I just read this…it appears that the brown mustard plant incorporated into the soil before it goes to seed is a natural bio fumigant and can kill or suppress soil borne diseases or pests, including wireworms. This from PEI government…they should know! Here are a couple helpful links. Unfortunately this would need to have been done last season to help out now…
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