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Later on in life it turns into a "Click" beetle or "Skipjack"; it is called
a "Click" because if you put it on its back it jumps to it with a click. If
you suffer badly from wireworm, it is worth trying to trap them. An old
potato makes a good trap, or three inches of old kale or Brussels stalk
split down the middle. Put these traps a few inches below ground in spring,
marking the spots with sticks. You can do a great deal to rid yourself of
wireworm if you set traps regularly. But don't mistake the
centipede for a wireworm. You can tell the centipede by the number of its
legs末a pair to every section of its body.
 Don't kill the centipede, for it
goes for your enemies末small slugs, worms and insects. The friendly
centipede moves very quickly, while the millepede末a nasty sort of
chap末moves slowly, though he has got two pairs of legs to every section, as
against the centipede's one. You cannot go far wrong if you kill the
slow-movers and let the fast movers live. Anyhow, it's death to the
millepede that attacks the roots of most of your plants! |
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When you are getting the ground ready for planting in
spring, look out for another enemy that works underground and attacks most
crops末the leather jacket, the grub of the fly you call "Daddy Long Legs."
One leather jacket can do much harm to many plants like lettuce and spinach,
so you must kill him wherever you find him.
When the young plants begin to grow up, they meet new
enemies末the chaps that do their work above ground.
 Most readers
of this Guide may have suffered from black fly, especially if they have
grown broad beans. These black flies harm the plant by sucking the sap and
injuring the tissues; if they are allowed to go on, they will spread from
the shoot to the cluster of young bean pods and spoil the whole crop. |
