Wire Worms
Categories:
Pests and Diseases of Plants
Is there any way to destroy or overcome the destructive work of the
wireworm, which I find in some spots takes the lion's share of crops,
such as beans, potatoes, onions, etc.?
We do not know any easy way with wire worms. Nitrate of soda is believed
to kill or repel them, but you have to be careful with it, for too much
will either over-stimulate or kill the kill; about 200 pounds per acre,
well distributed, is the usual prescription for the good of the plants.
Wire worms can probably be killed with carbon bisulphide, using a
tablespoonful poured into holes about a foot deep, three or four feet
apart. The vapor would permeate the soil and kill all ground insects,
but the acre-cost of such treatment must be measured in its relation to
the value of the crop. The most promising policy with wire worms is
rotation of crops, starving them out with a grain or grass crop and not
growing such crops as you mention continually on the same land.