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Wireworms after green manures?
Mesh needles and leatherettes can cause a lot of damage to sugar beets, potatoes and maize plants, among other things. These soil insects are popping up on more and more plots. Is there a connection with the increase in green manures?
Leatherbacks, larvae of the crane fly, emerge at night above the ground and then eat the leaves and stems of young beet plants. Wireworms are the larvae of the click beetle and bite the roots of young plants, causing the plant to wilt and die. They also eat holes and tunnels in potatoes and carrots.
Organic material
Crane flies and click beetles lay their eggs in leafy crops so that the larvae can feed. Wicker needles and leatherettes are therefore common on grassland, but also in fields where green manures have been grown. However, the insects do have clear preferences for certain types of green manure.
Lowest numbers in radish radish
Crane flies and click beetles prefer to lay their eggs on moist grassy plants. After grass green manures, Japanese oats and biodiverse mixtures, the numbers of leatherettes and wireworms can therefore be very high. After cruciferous green manures, such as yellow mustard and fodder radish, the numbers remain the lowest. Incorporating these green manures in time reduces the risk of wireworms even further.
So this summer, preferably multi-resistant fodder radish, such as LG DOUBLE Plus. This green manure also actively combats beet cyst nematodes and M. chitwoodi, so that you can start beet and potato cultivation with a low pressure of harmful soil insects and parasitic nematodes.
Dark blue = fallow, red = grass, orange = radish.
