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Wireworms: How to Make a Trap to Stop These Annoying Pests

Update: This post is from May when I found wireworms eating my tomato plants. If I had prepared some traps in March these could have been saved. Plan now, save your plants too. Don’t let the wireworms win.

Finally some nice weather has me outside to check on my newly transplanted early tomatoes and…WHAT THE?!

The wilty and pale sad little transplants looked perfectly healthy 2 days ago.

I pulled one up to replace it with a backup and WHAT THE %$^&%$%^&*?! There’s wireworms eating them from the inside out.

Wireworms and how to make a wireworm trap

I think this one is actually drooling….

Wireworms and how to make a wire worm trap

I dug around in the soil only to find a whole bunch of these ugly critters. I had planted lettuce transplants early in the season in the same raised bed which all mysteriously disappeared days after planting. I blamed the slugs. I killed LOTS of baby slugs to terrify the other hidden slugs. But could it have been these nasty little wireworms that ate my lettuce?

If you recently transformed a grassy part of your yard to a garden bed (check out Turning Lawn into a Vegetable Garden with Raised Beds) then you may have an abundance of wireworms just waiting for tender seedlings. The best way to remove them is by setting up a wireworm trap.

Cut a potato in half and skewer it with a long stick. Bury the potato in the soil (or make a few of these for large beds/lots of wireworms), ensuring that the top of the stick stays above the soil so you can find them. In a week or so, carefully dig (not pull) up the trap and remove the wireworms. Replace and keep removing the worms until you don’t find them anymore. You are now ready to plant!

Comments

  1. Poor slugs… always getting blamed for everything! They died in vein!!!! LOL j/k sorry to hear your garden is under attack, I hope the carrot or potato/yam project works out for you!!!!

    Reply
  2. What cowardly little bugs!! If they have the nerve to eat your plants, they should be bug enough to do it in broad daylight and from the outside in!! I hope the potato traps work.

    Reply
  3. Hi Stevie, Nasty little baastids, aren’t they? Sounds like you’ve gotten lots of advice for the wire worms, so how’s about a little for your poor innocent (this time, at least) little slugs? Well, crushed eggshells have worked REALLY well for me. They don’t like the feel on their tender tummy/tootsie. Started saving crushed shells years ago ’cause they’re so darned useful – make sure to rinse them and air-dry thoroughly first. They add some great mineral content back into your soil and, just like in those old “Cowboy Movies”, really work to mellow out the flavour of your coffee too.

    One more suggestion for cutworms… A rusty nail planted up against the stem will thwart the little suckers (and also add iron back into the soil at the same time; )

    Reply
  4. Hi again, Just did a little digging (sorry, couldn’t resist) on wireworms and came up with this: according to the OMFRA (Ontario Ministry of Farming & Rural Affairs) site, the best defence against wireworm is crop rotation – you know, the old “move things around and don’t come back to the same spot for at least 4 years” method. Hope this helps, D.

    Reply
  5. I can’t help you I’m afraid as I’ve never seen anything like them over here – nasty little buggers though!

    I’ve enjoyed reading your blog …except for the wireworms and the lost tomatoes!

    Reply

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