How to get rid of a wireworm in a greenhouse with tomatoes

The homeland of tomatoes is Peru and Ecuador. Ancient Indians grew fragrant fruits for food and magical rituals. In Russia, the tomato fell in the late 18th century. Our great-grandfathers liked as much as the Incas and Mayas. The tomato was romantically called the "love apple". The planting of the southern crop in polycarbonate greenhouses makes it possible to harvest a rich crop. Defenseless seedlings and berries of tomatoes attract different pests. One of the most unpleasant is the wireworm.

Wireworm - how it looks and what crops it eats

Wireworm - worm-likelarvabeetle-beetle length from 1 to 5 cm. Has a thin rigid body with a brilliant cover of brown color.

Winter spends, burrowing into the soil to the depthup to 50 cm. In the first year of life their length is only 7 mm. In the 2 nd and 3 rd years they grow and eat intensively. On the 4th year in August, the larva makes a mink in the soil and pupates there.

Young beetles hibernate in their burrows. Their mass departure beginsin April. From May to July, the clickfish lay eggs under the lumps of earth, cracks in the soil. After 2-3 weeks from the eggs there are new wireworms.

Feeds on roots, stems, tubers, young shoots and he even eats flowers. Beetles themselves are harmless. The danger to the crop is represented by larvae. The wireworm is a great lover of cattail grass.

How does tomatoes damage

The pest gnaws into the young tender stalks and roots of the tomato seedlings. Damaged plantslag behind in growth, turn yellow and wither. Bacteria and fungi readily inhabit the pest pathways, causing decay of tomato. Often eats flowers, greatly reducing yields.

Wirewormdoes not touch tomato plants of burgundy and pink varieties.

Where does the greenhouse come from?

• The wireworm already resided on that stretch of land where a greenhouse was built and tomatoes planted.
• Availabilitycreeping wheat grassindicates the location of the site by a pest. Even weed and left between the beds weed good food for wireworm.
• Wet, warm soil greenhouses like wireworms.
• In the greenhouse there are no birds eating wireworms in natural conditions.
• In the introduced soilthere were larvae of the click.
• Likes to live onacid clay soils.
• Plants are planted close to each other.
• The soilDo not loosen up and dig over for the winter.

How to get rid of a pest on tomatoes

Agrotechnical methods:

• Get Rid of Weeds, especially from the grass of the creeper and burdock. Do not leave the weeded weeds on the site, burn them together with the rhizomes.
• Permanentloosening of the soil. Dug up the soil and let the sun warm up the earth before planting a new seedling. The larvae will die (not all, of course, but enough).
• Wirewormdoes not tolerate mustard, rape, buckwheat, spinach, dahlias. Plant these plants in the aisles. Not to the taste of the pest and legumes - peas, beans, lupins.
• The trap is made from a half-liter can, dug in the neck. Put there pieces of carrots and potatoes. The wireworm crawls behind the food and will not get out.
• Another trap looks like pieces of potatoes, carrots and beets strung on wire. Bury to a depth of 10-15 cm. After 3-4 days, catch traps, catch pests to destroy, update the bait and bury again. Change the location of the traps.
• Pest occupies acidic soil. To reduce the acidity, chalk, eggshell, wood ash, dolomite flour is introduced. Dolomite flour is a mineral fertilizer of natural origin. Contains calcium and magnesium. Additives are introduced into the soil during digging, loosening, planting.
• Sufficient watering of plants and soil moisture. Sometimes too dry soil makes the wireman look for moisture in juicy stems.
• Put a handful of onion peel or a pinch of mustard powder in the hole before planting.

Preparations in the fight against wireworms

• Watering plants weaksolution of potassium permanganate(10 g of water dissolve 5 g of powder).
• Introductionnitrogen-containingfertilizers. Ammonium sulphate and ammonium chloride 30 g per 1 m2, ammonium nitrate - 20 g per 1 m2. Fertilize the soil before flowering plants and during the ovary fruit.
• Bazudin- insecticide of intestinal and contact lesions. The active substance is diazonin. Produced in granular form, in a pack of 30 g. Fill the clean container three-quarters with dry sand. Pour the package of the preparation there and stir evenly. Before planting seedlings in each hole, fill one teaspoon of the sand mixture obtained. The action lasts up to a month and a half.
• Diazonin10 RG - a powerful insecticide, for pest control, paralyzing the nervous system. It is an oil with a faint smell. The preparation is treated with plants in the growth stage. Stays effective up to 3 weeks. Neither in the soil nor in the crop does it accumulate.
• AktaraInsecticide based on thiatoxam. Penetrates the stems and leaves of plants, does not accumulate in the fruits. When spraying, it lasts up to 4 weeks, when applied to the soil - up to 6 weeks. The drug is available in granules. A solution for watering is prepared in the proportion of 4 g of granules per 10 liters of water. Spraying is done by dissolving, g of the drug in 10 liters of water.
• «Provotoks»- Another drug based on diazonin. It is also produced in granules (packs of 40/120 g). Make 2-4 pellets in the hole before planting. Packages of 40 g are enough for 10 m2. At a temperature above 250 degrees, the drug is not used. It is recommended to work with the drug in the morning or evening, in dry, windless weather.
• Nemabakt- not a chemical, but a biological preparation. Contains microscopic nematodes and bacteria. The nematode is introduced into the wireworm, the bacterium destroys its insides. Use the drug at a temperature of up to 250 degrees. One packet of the drug is dissolved in 10 liters of pure water (t = 200C). Wait for an hour. Take from the bucket with the drug, l and pour into the watering can. One watering can is approximately 5 m2. Watering is done in the evening, preferably after rain or usual watering.

Try to get rid of pest agrotechnical ways. When working with poisonous substances, strictly observe the instructions for use and your own safety equipment.

The wireworm is a dangerous pest that significantly impoverishes the harvest of tomatoes. It is possible and necessary to fight against it, in spite of the length and laboriousness of the process. To get rid of a click-stick on 100% it does not turn out, it is sick it tenacious and numerous. However, a significant reduction in the number of individuals is quite achievable. And, believe me, it's worth it! The reward for the shock work will be a record collection of ripe tomatoes.