Copied from the  U of Sask..  Its just to good information not to share!

Potato wireworm in new garden beds

Are you digging a new vegetable garden this year? Most of us love to plant root crops like potatoes in new beds. Did you know that wireworm infestations can be a problem in newly broken land that was previously in prairie or sod?

To check the level of wireworm infestation in a new potato patch, place carrot pieces, buried 10cm deep, throughout the area you plan on planting to potatoes. After three or four days, dig up the carrot pieces and count the number of wireworms. If you find an average of one or more wireworms per station, damage to the coming potato crop can be severe.

To prevent wireworm infestations, avoid planting in newly cultivated soils. Plant other crops instead for the first couple of years. Minimize irrigation in infested soils as wireworms do poorly under dry soil conditions.

Wireworm problems in the typical garden tend to decline with time, as the wireworms move out of the garden and into other preferred food crops such as grasses.