I've just encountered my first insect pest here at my backyard garden - wireworms! They're having a blast nibbling on my growing potato crop. Put your lunch down for a minute and have a look at these little buggers!
I had just pulled that potato out of the ground to go into my dinner pot, when that yellow worm stopped chewing on it, dropped to the ground, and crawled away like nothing had happened! I was pissed.
There he is again. Gross. Well, I've seen grosser, but that's pretty ugly.
I searched the internet and quickly found the name of this pest: the wireworm! Wireworms are actually the larval (young) stage of the click beetle, and live underground for about 3 years before emerging as an adult beetle. That's cool, but it's not cool to eat my potatoes! Get your own dinner!
Luckily, I discovered that the damage they do to the potatoes is superficial (not very deep). It's nice to read that they don't burrow all the way into the potato, nor do they leave anything behind. So the only real problem is they make it so you have to peel your potatoes before using them.
As I mentioned the other day, I'm eating potatoes from the garden pretty much daily right now. I just give them a good peeling, and they're perfect.
Part of this nutritious dinner!
So while I am a reluctant participant in the sharing of my potatoes with the wireworms, I'm thankful I don't currently have any worse pest issues. I've been pretty lucky this year. As a fully organic gardener (no products of any kind, not even fertilizers), I really appreciate that. The weather hasn't been very kind, but the bugs, molds, and other garden plagues have essentially been non-existent.
It's been a rewarding year so far. You can check out my Mid Summer Garden Update here, and stay tuned to this page for much more content from my backyard garden oasis!
DRutter
Sorry you're fighting pests! Is there any way to repel them? You obviously can't dig them up to get rid of these pest.
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I hadn't noticed that you haven't had any pest, other than mysterious paw prints in an earlier post. I'm overrun with japanese beetles! They turn foliage to lace. Horrible! And I, too, am fully organic, so my only choice is to kill them one by one. It's a losing battle on my sweet potatoes, but I think everything else is going to do well, better than last year, when another smaller black beetle destroyed eggplant and peppers so that I didn't get a single one of either. I sprayed nematodes this spring, which seem to have reduced those, but the japanese beetles are out of control.
Sorry to hear that! Have you tried diatomaceous earth? It's an inert rock powder that irritates bugs and drives them away. It can be used on the plant itself or mixed into the soil. Thankfully, we don't get those beetles over here.
Hm. I haven't. I also have never heard it mentioned as a remedy for the beetles. I have some, maybe it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
I'm getting plenty of food so far, despite. I worry I won't get any sweet potatoes, because the beetles are going to town on that plant. EVerything else seems to have only minor damage, and I'm not worried about the rest.
I'm getting a ridiculous amount of cucumbers, pickling something nearly every day, which Is no fun if you ask me. Maybe this year I'll pickle so much I won't even plant cucumbers next year. I've had zukes, onions, cukes, mustard, arugula, lettuce, kale, herbs, shell peas, shallots, beets, carrots and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Tomatoes coming soon, peppers, eggplant, and hopefully watermelon are on the way. I'm having an excellent year in the garden, despite the japanese beetles. Nature provides beautifully. It's astonishing really. It's very hard to eat veggies from the grocery store if you have ever grown your own.
Wow, you've got plenty of vegetables in your garden. Can we have a glimpse to inspire us ?♥️👍
Neem oil is helpful, and Neem is an herbal; so it's not a poison. I've heard that weak dish soap works too. With soap, you can just wash the leaves before you eat them. Not a poison, and both are considered organic.
I understand the cucumber problem! Try fermenting some pickles, it's really good for you.
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I spray the affected plants with a dish soap/EO/neem/water mixture as strong as I dare, hopng to repel them, but it doesn't kill the beetles. I could increase the neem I suppose. This seems to repel them for a day. I do not spray this on the rhubarb which they also like, hoping I can use the rhubarb as a trap. I can cut those leaves off, which can have as many as a dozen on one, and dunk the whole leaf in a bucket of soap water. Next year I will try growing the sweet potatoes in a bag on the asphalt, where the beetles don't seem to go. It's all a learning curve!
So sick of cucumbers. I would not have thought that possible until this year.
Spray them with alcohol if they are that concentrated on your plants. It will evaporate right away, and they will be dead!
I hear they have beetle traps that really tear them up too.
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I've been warned off from the traps - supposedly they will attract every beetle for miles around. I'll give the alcohol a shot on my rhubarb first, since I don't need that as much as I need the sweet potatoes this year. Thanks for the info! Just straight alcohol?
I just use the 70% rubbing alcohol, added to neem oil. If the beetles all die, who cares? They compost fine I'm sure....
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OK I'm gonna try it. These things are driving me insane. so many!!!
Maybe try a vacuum cleaner too? If there were that many, I bet it would lay waste to them! The little upolstery brush would loosen them up, and the vacuum will remove them.
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Oh, you have a competitor in your potatoes. It seems that the wireworm love your potatoes too.😄 Is their an organic way to get rid of wireworms?
I think diatomaceous earth may be one option. I have some and might try it soon.
Oh nice at least it is organic, no harmful chemicals. I hope it will work so your competitor will retreat..🙏
Give us an update soon! thanks
Learned some about this worm thks .
But , i put my potato's in the ground early spring after all night-frost was gone .
Seeing you harvest already , i wonder , when can i harvest them ?
I did cut some flowers out some weeks ago .
The weather is after some days of rain very sunny again .
Would love to fry some potato for dinner .
Together with my home brew beer .
;-)
this is so beautiful perfect soil for potatoes @drutter there’s so much joy that comes with eating your very own harvest 😊🤗
The thumbnail looks like a mushroom...that's click beetle
Click baitle
They made it to their dinner!!! 🤣🤣🤣🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛
I was wondering when you would face these insects.
Maybe she thought: "There are more potatoes to bite" haha, so, she drags herself like nothing, looking for another quieter place to eat.
I hope you don't have major problems with other pests.
I do love potatoes myself when fried. You need to do something about those pest maybe by spaying some insecticide on those plants.
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