While yield-robbing wireworms are often found in fields during spring, identifying the pests in the fall can help suppress further damage.
While the worms are small, their impact can cause up to a 50% yield loss and stunt remaining plants. Bait traps can help you determine if worms are in your field. Even if only two worms are found, you should put a treatment plan into place.
Sarah Voglewede, a business representative for BASF, says baiting for wireworms can be done in spring or fall with success. “If you have a suspicion of wireworms or if you know you have them, creating the bait ball traps will help you discover the population you have in your fields,” she explains.
Making bait balls
Creating a wireworm bait ball can be easily done with items already found on many farms.
“You start with a disposable nylon stocking, about 6 to 10 inches long,” Voglewede says. Pour about 2 cups of a mixed grain, such as spring wheat, oats and barley, into the stocking. Then soak the stocking in water for at least 24 hours. She says the soaked grain emit carbon dioxide, which will attract any wireworms to the bait ball.
BASF representatives placed bait ball traps in the spring in fields near Washburn and Hazen in North Dakota and near Wolf Point and Miles City in Montana. Voglewede and her team have found wireworms in all types of fields and soil types, which means many growers should be baiting to find populations in their fields.
“We’ve been surprised with the number of wireworms we’ve been finding,” she explains. “They weren’t just in heavier clay or rocky soils. We found them in sandy soils and in the hilltops and the lower pothole areas, too.”
The soaked bait balls are buried in fields anywhere from 3 to 6 inches deep, depending on soil temperatures. “When we placed balls in the spring, the soil temps were all different. And before we place the bait, we dig around 10 inches deep, just to get the soil disturbed,” she says.
Source: farmprogress.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-scharfsinn86
Categories: North Dakota, Crops