Wireworms in Nova Scotia

Wireworms in transplants

For those of you who missed Dr. Christine Noronha's presentation on wireworms last week, you can find her presentation here. 

While many areas in Nova Scotia thankfully do not report wireworm problems, there are definitely high populations in some fields.  Last spring, we set traps in a few fields around the province.  Below is a graph from a vegetable field in Colchester County, showing high numbers of Agriotes sputator, one of the more voracious click beetle (adult wireworm) species.  Click beetle flight happens earlier in the warmer parts of the province such as the Valley.

Click beetle catch in Colchester County, 2016.

Perennia has set out some click beetle pheromone traps again this year, and we just collected our first sample.  Below is a photo of our first "haul" from Annapolis County.  On the left is A. obscurus, the middle is A. sputator, and on the right is A. lineatus.  Pheromone traps only attract males, so do not reduce the click beetle/wireworm population, but do give us a good idea of pest levels.  

May 23, 2017 click beetle catch from Annapolis County.

Wireworm updates

Dr. Christine Noronha is an entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in PEI with a particular interest in wireworms.  She will be visiting Nova Scotia this week and will give an overview of wireworms and their lifecycle (similar to last year’s presentation), as well as the most recent updates and highlights from her research into this pest. 

The presentation will take place at the Kentville Research Station (32 Main Street, Kentville) on Friday, May 12^th, 2017 at 9 am in the Perennia Training Room.  I know it’s a busy time of year, but we hope you can join us! 

Wireworm Managment with Dr. Christine Noronha

We were fortunate to have Dr. Christine Noronha from AAFC visit the Kentville Research Station in early May.  She was kind enough to share her presentation on Wireworm Management with us.  Please click on the above link to access the presentation.

Wireworm traps are being set around Nova Scotia to identify what species of click beetle we have here. 

NELT Wireworm Traps

The Noronha Elaterid Light Trap (NELT).

In an attempt to manage the wireworm problem, a new device has been invented by Dr. Christine Noronha, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada entomologist.  The NELT (Noronha Elaterid Light Trap) trap is composed of a solar-powered garden lamp, a small cage, and a white plastic cup. The cup is filled with a few centimetres of water with a few drops of dish soap.  The white cup is buried in the soil so that the lip is level with the ground, and the light shines into it. The light attracts the click beetles (both male and female) that emerge from the ground in May and June.  The beetles fall into the cup and drown.  Last year in one field, Dr. Noronha caught 3,000 females in ten of her traps.  Each female beetle can lay 100-200 eggs, so every death counts!

Note proximity of light to cup.

The traps can be left in the ground from mid-to-late May to mid-to-late June, with the cup/water being changed periodically. The traps have shown tremendous promise in trials, and are set to undergo more testing to determine the recommended field spacing. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is in the process of trademarking the trap name and design, and is now looking for a manufacturer to mass produce the trap. The goal is to have the traps avaialble to farmers in the spring of 2017.

Similar solar power lights can be found fairly inexpensively at your local garden store.

This post was written in part by Jessica MacDonald, Perennia's 2015-2016 summer student.