b"The Western Canadian team was also able to develop an identification guide for wireworm species found on the Prairies. Noronha notes theyre still studying wireworm populations across the country, with this being the last year of monitoring.We found that populations in P.E.I. are decreasing after we started using the buckwheat and the mustards crops in rotation with potatoes. We're still going to continue to monitor what the status is. Some of the growers have started using other crops and some of them continue to wireworm suppressive crops in their rotation. So, we're going to find out if, by stopping the use of these suppressive crops if the population starts increasing or not, she explains. Practical in the Field KnowledgeOne of the farms Noronhas team worked with was G Visser & Sons, a fresh potato and packing operation in Orwell Cove, P.E.I. They grow around 1,000 acres of fresh and seed potatoes annually. They also grow rotational crops of winter wheat and cover crop mixes, trying to pick crop varieties which will help with wireworm control, and swapping land with cash crop farming neighbours.Wireworm became a problem for us quite quickly. We definitely weren't the first on P.E.I., there was others that we were hearing had wireworm issue. But when it started to affect yourWireworm eggs which will later become wireworms. own crop, you start to really take an interest. You become awarePHOTO: CHRISTINE NORONHAthis is something that we need to do our best to try to try to mitigate the damage from, William Visser, a partner in G Visser & Sons, explains in a phone interview. WIREWORM RESEARCH TEAMThe team at G Visser & Sons have worked with Noronhas team for most of the past decade to learn more about the wireworm Christine Noronha at Charlottetown Research and populations in their fields and find ways to control them. UsingDevelopment Centre: researching insecticides, bait traps, theyve discovered wireworms arent necessarilyrotational crops biology, wireworm and click beetle widespread across all fields with populations in them. biology and behaviour, pheromones and surveying Not all the trials G Visser & Sons were involved in workedpopulations in P.E.I.out. One trial had them trying to spray for click beetles as theyGerhard Gries at Simon Fraser University: emerged in the spring, it was discovered though it was hard toextracting pheromones and identifying themget the timing right in order for it to work.Haley Catton at the Lethbridge Research andIf there would have been products identified that wereDevelopment Centre: researching rotational cropsregistered for that purpose, it was certainly a tool that you could I an Scott at the London Research and Development have used but it was a hard one. It was a bit complicated andCentre: researching insecticides and rotational intense to try to manage the timing, Visser explains. cropsFor the wireworm control methods that worked, Noronha isWim van herk at the Agassiz Research and working on developing a manual growers will be able to useDevelopment Centre: researching insecticides, across the country to learn more about wireworms and howpheromones and surveying species across Canadato control them. The manual is in the very early stages with Noronha saying shes still sorting out the best way to distribute it, whether thats as a digital version or physical copy.For now, this research project is where Noronha and her teamsecology and have developed control options. We know so much current research work on wireworms will end. Wirewormsmore about it, Noronha says. Adding with the research her team werent identified as one of the research focuses for the clusterhas done, theyre finding theyre now ahead of other countries in projects starting next year.their knowledge on wireworms. I think we have come a long way from where we were whenThey're still trying to figure out what to do with the species I first started. We didn't know anything about the insect. Wethat they have. They don't understand them. So, they always tell now know about the biology, where it goes, a little bit about itsus that we are so much more ahead of the game. SPUDSMART.COM Fall 202217"