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P.E.I. potato growers fighting wireworms

August 19, 2008, South Shore,
P.E.I. – Potato producers along Prince Edward Island’s south shore
continue to battle wireworms this season while researchers work to find
a way of controlling the pest.

August 19, 2008, South Shore, P.E.I. – Potato producers along Prince Edward Island’s south shore continue to battle wireworms this season while researchers work to find a way of controlling the pest.

According to a recent report by the CBC, wireworms are eating through hundreds of acres of P.E.I. potatoes. Growers are particularly concerned about the pest considering the planned phase out of phorate, an effective insecticide against wireworm – by 2012.

Researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are investigating other ways of controlling the pest, including the use of cover crops, such as brown mustard.