Mimeo. E-39
November 1951
Rev. November 1953 (2M)
Purdue University Agricultural
Extension Service
Department of Entomology
WIREWORM CONTROL
In many areas of Indiana, wireworms are common and destructive pests of corn, potatoes, tobacco and sometimes other crops. These insects are usuall; associated with wet soils; therefore, injury is most severe in poorly drained areas and in low, wet spots in the field.
Wireworms damage corn in a number of ways. They may destroy the seed before it germinates or feed on the tap roots of the young plants, causing them to die. They also bore into the stalks just below the ground level, causing the plants to die at an early age. During the growing season,they continue to feed upon the roots, but the corn will usually survive this type of damage. Infested areas are characterized by thin stands with many missing plants. The worms can be found by digging around sickly plants or into hills where the seed has failed to germinate. They damage potatoes by boring into the tubers and tobacco by working in the stems. Control for tobacco wireworms is given in Purdue Mimeo E-43.
Wireworms are hard, slender, smooth, brown worms ranging up to about 1 inch in length. They are the larvae of the familiar ’’click beetles'7 or ’'snap ping bugs.” There are many different species occuring in Indiana, most of which require from 2 to 5 years for the worms to complete their growth in |the soil. The eggs are laid in low, grassy or weedy areas and the heaviest infestations probably occur in sod lands that have remained undisturbed for a number of years. Damage to cultivated crops is most severe the first Land second years after such sod is broken and diminishes thereafter with the continued growth of cultivated crops. When the land is returned to sod, even for a single year, some reinfestation will take place. A few eggs may also be laid under cultivated conditions so that fields may never be entirely free of wireworms.
It should be pointed out that some soils never have enough wireworms to be concerned about; therefore, the best guide to determine if control measures are needed is the past history of wireworm damage in the field.
Control Measures
Wireworm populations in soil can be decreased and often reduced to insignificant numbers by drainage of low areas. Drainage has not given complete control on muck soils nor on some mineral soils. In recent years, several of ice new insecticides have been found to give excellent wireworm control.
They have been tested and used as seed treatments, broadcast treatments,and as band treatments combined with a starter fertilizer.
Lindane Seed Treatment For Corn
Experience with the lindane seed treatment for corn has shown that it will give excellent results when used on soils having a low to average wire-worm population. In the case of very high populations, the insects may de-croP after germination, and under such circumstances the band or broadcast treatments are preferred.
Lindane is used as a corn seed treatment at the rate of 4 ounces of 25 percent lindance powder for each bushel of seed. It must be mixed thoroughly with the seed in such a manner as to insure a thin coating of the powder on
each kernel. The lindane will be compatible with seed treatments which may have 
been placed on the corn by the processor to control diseases and weevil.