The tranquillity of my fledgling market garden has come under attack. I've been besieged by a ruthless, indiscriminate supervillain who is hell-bent on destroying everything I plant - an army of wireworms!!
If you haven't ever heard of the wireworm, it's a fairly harmless-looking larvae of the click beetle, but despite its tiny stature, it can wreak havoc for the humble market gardener / large-scale farmer. They kill the plant by eating the roots, entwine themselves and suck the life out of the poor plant without you being able to see what's happening until the plant starts crying for help! Most young seedlings are so vulnerable they can't withstand even a few of these critters for a day, so you are out to lose a lot of crops in a very short space of time.
So far, these maggot-like creatures have eaten; 60 turnips, 40 beetroots, all the lettuce, 40 peas, 20 kohl rabi, 80 onions and 100 spring onions. It is a war zone out there.
However, all is not lost. I have a game plan!
Firstly, here are a few facts about wireworms...
They have a lifecycle as larvae of up to 7 years.
The beetle prefers to live in long grass.
They eat tender or rotting roots.
No available pesticide controls them (not that I would use it anyway).
They travel around 2.5m.
In spring and autumn, they have a significant feeding period and remain in the top few inches of soil.
In winter, they head down to a depth of 2-3ft.
They can manage without feeding for up to 1 year.
The beetle has a lifecycle of 1 year.
Each beetle can lay up to 250 eggs.
Plan of attack
I'm removing all of the turf around the beds as the beetle prefers to lay in the long grass.
I've applied a general nematode (same as chafer grubs).
I will be sowing and turning in a hot mustard crop (brown) twice this year.
I'm using potato traps and then squishing them.
I'm gently removing plants, clearing the wireworm and replanting.
Giving up on the No Dig method temporality as cultivating the land can help reduce their numbers.
Eventually, I'll get on top of it to a manageable state, but it's going to be tough going at times.
That means this year may not be the bumper crop start I had hoped, but things are starting to fight back, so there's light at the end of the tunnel!
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