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Wireworms

Wireworms

Family Elateridae (larvae)

Insectalso: Click beetle larvae

The larvae of click beetles: tough, wiry, orange-brown grubs that live in the soil for years and chew into seeds, roots, and especially potato tubers, leaving narrow holes that ruin the crop. They are most troublesome in beds recently converted from sod or lawn.

🔎 How to spot it

Wireworms are slender, hard-bodied, shiny yellow to orange-brown larvae, a half to one and a half inches long, with a tough, segmented body that gives them their name. You find them in the soil and tunneling inside potatoes and root crops. The adults are elongate brown click beetles that flip into the air with an audible snap when turned onto their backs.

🥀 Damage it causes

Wireworms eat planted seeds before they sprout, sever the roots and underground stems of seedlings, and bore narrow tunnels straight into potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and other root crops, leaving them pocked and unmarketable. Damage is often patchy and worst on ground that was grass or weeds the year before.

🛡️ Prevent it

Avoid planting potatoes and root crops in beds just turned from sod, where wireworm numbers are highest; give such ground a year or two of clean cultivation first. Rotate crops, and cultivate the soil in late summer and again in spring to expose larvae and pupae to predators and drying. Harvest potatoes promptly once mature rather than leaving them in infested soil.

🧯 If it is already here

There is no quick rescue once they are in the soil, so trapping and cultivation are the tools. Bury pieces of potato or carrot on a stick a few inches down every few feet, dig them up after a week, and destroy the wireworms that have gathered to feed; repeat before planting. Keep cultivating to reduce the population over the season.

💡 Good to know

Wireworms are slow developers, spending two to four or more years in the soil before becoming click beetles, so a problem bed stays a problem for several seasons. Because they thrive under grass, the worst infestations are in newly broken ground; a couple of years of rotation and trapping is usually what brings them down.

🌱 Plants it attacks

89 plants in the library can be attacked by this pest

Adirondack Blue PotatoAdzuki Bean🥔All Blue PotatoAmbrosia Corn🥕Atomic Red CarrotBeauregard Sweet Potato🥬Bibb LettuceBlack Bean🥬Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce🥕Black Spanish RadishBlue Lake Green Bean🥕Bolero CarrotBroad Windsor Fava BeanBull's Blood BeetBurdockButtercrunch LettuceCannellini BeanCeleriacChantenay CarrotCherry Belle RadishChioggia BeetCipollini OnionCosmic Purple CarrotCranberry BeanCylindra BeetDaikon RadishDanvers CarrotDetroit Dark Red BeetDragon Carrot🌸Easter Egg RadishEgyptian Walking OnionFingerling PotatoFordhook 242 Lima Bean🥕French Breakfast RadishGerman Butterball PotatoGolden Bantam CornGolden BeetGreen CabbageGreen Leaf LettuceHakurei TurnipHorseradishIceberg LettuceImperator CarrotJanuary King CabbageKennebec PotatoKentucky Wonder Pole BeanKidney Bean🥬Little Gem Lettuce🥬Lollo Rossa Lettuce🥕Mokum CarrotMung BeanNantes CarrotNapa CabbageNavy BeanNorland Potato🥬Oakleaf Lettuce🥕Paris Market CarrotParsnipPearl OnionPinto Bean🌱Provider Bush Bean🥔Purple Majesty PotatoPurple Top Turnip🥕Rainbow Carrot MixRed CabbageRed Leaf LettuceRed Noodle Yardlong Bean🧅Red OnionRed Pontiac PotatoRomaine LettuceRomano BeanRusset PotatoRutabaga🥬Salad Bowl LettuceSalsifySavoy CabbageScarlet Runner BeanSilver Queen Corn🧅Spanish OnionSunchokeSweetheart CabbageVidalia Sweet Onion🧅Walla Walla Sweet Onion🥕Watermelon RadishWhite Onion🥕White Satin CarrotWild LettuceYellow Sweet OnionYukon Gold Potato

For educational and informational purposes only. Pest control advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a pest positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.