pat foley asked 15 years ago
My neighbour’s potatoes have been attacked by wireworm over the last couple of seasons and he has been told that growing mustard seed and ploughing it into the ground would get rid of them.He is keen to try it but would like more information before he does,also is mustard seed available in Ireland and are there many different types?
1 Answers
Gerry Daly Staff answered 7 years ago
There is a view that mustard or rape seed release chemicals when ploughed down that wireworms do not like. This has been tested and found to not be proven.
Howver, it is possible that even the autumn cultivation might reduce the popualtion of wireworm, which are really only a problem when growing potatoes after grass for 3 years, after which time the larvae pupate and clear off. They generally do not lay eggs in cultivated, weed-free ground.
Fruithill Farm in Cork should have mustard seed.
