Wireworm / Click Beetle

Friday, March 21 2003 @ 06:25 AM

Contributed by: Admin

Source: eap.mcgill.ca
Wireworm / Click Beetle - Elongate brown or black "click' beetle"; flips in air when placed on its back.

DESCRIPTION and LIFE HISTORY * indicates damaging stage
Adult (1.5 - 2 cm): Elongate brown or black "click' beetle"; flips in air when placed on its back; sides taper toward rear; lives 10-12 months; lives mostly on or underground, but can fly. Do not confuse with beneficial GROUND BEETLES.

Egg: Laid singly in damp soil in May and June; hatch in a few days to weeks.

*Larva (3.5 cm): Shiny, slender, hard, jointed. yellowish to brown; found year-round in most soils; lives 2-5 years, moving only a few yards in this time; may bite if held in the hand.

Pupa: In soil late summer; adult emerges the same fall.

Generations/Year: Overlap; find larvae of many ages at any given time; overwinters as larva and adult, in soil.

DAMAGE: Very destructive and hard to control; attacks CORN, POTATO, BEET, BEAN, LETTUCE, CABBAGE, CARROT, ONION, PEA, TURNIP. SMALL GRAINS~ GRASSES
Eats underground parts of stems, roots and seed. Crop may fail to germinate, or comes up in patches, then die, or wither later in the season.

CONTROL: Avoid planting susceptible crops on recently sodded land, ideally, the sod should be cut, stacked, composted and returned to the soil only when well decomposed;
Rotate crops;
Turn over top 25 cm of soil very early in spring, leaving it rough for a few weeks
Lure with perforated potatoes impaled on sticks and buried 2-3 cm deep; shake "worms" out of them into soapy water every few days.
Collect under boards resting on soil surface.
Sow a row of corn between susceptible crops; wireworm wil1 prefer corn roots, which can be dug up later and burnt & in time the wireworm will disappear.

http://www.mygardenpatch.com/20030321062527600.htm

DESCRIPTION and LIFE HISTORY	* indicates damaging stage Adult (1.5 - 2 cm): Elongate brown or black "click' beetle"; flips in air when placed on its back; sides taper toward rear; lives 10-12 months; lives mostly on or underground, but can fly. Do not confuse with beneficial GROUND BEETLES.
Egg:	Laid singly in damp soil in May and June; hatch in a few days to weeks.
*Larva (3.5 cm):	Shiny, slender, hard, jointed. yellowish to brown; found year-round in most soils; lives 2-5 years, moving only a few yards in this time; may bite if held in the hand.
Pupa:	In soil late summer; adult emerges the same fall.
Generations/Year:	Overlap; find larvae of many ages at any given time; overwinters as larva and adult, in soil.
DAMAGE:	Very destructive and hard to control; attacks CORN, POTATO, BEET, BEAN, LETTUCE, CABBAGE, CARROT, ONION, PEA, TURNIP. SMALL GRAINS~ GRASSES Eats underground parts of stems, roots and seed. Crop may fail to germinate, or comes up in patches, then die, or wither later in the season.
CONTROL:	Avoid planting susceptible crops on recently sodded land, ideally, the sod should be cut, stacked, composted and returned to the soil only when well decomposed; Rotate crops; Turn over top 25 cm of soil very early in spring, leaving it rough for a few weeks Lure with perforated potatoes impaled on sticks and buried 2-3 cm deep; shake "worms" out of them into soapy water every few days. Collect under boards resting on soil surface. Sow a row of corn between susceptible crops; wireworm wil1 prefer corn roots, which can be dug up later and burnt & in time the wireworm will disappear.