There is not a farmer in America who hasn’t at some point walked out to a field to see it destroyed by a weather event, pests, or diseases. Sometimes it’s just a few acres. Sometimes it’s an entire field. As the farmer scans the field, a feeling of loss — lost opportunity, hard work and income — feels like a gut punch.

In some cases, these things happen early enough for a farmer to replant. Imagine, though, seeing a viable wheat stand disappear in front of your eyes not once, or twice, but three times.  

When dealing with wireworms in spring wheat, even the third time wasn’t the charm for one Idaho farmer.

Wireworms: Taking Fields by Storm

Wireworms cause substantial crop damage across the Pacific Northwest. Many stages of wireworm larvae are active in the field as they progress into a pupae and adult click beetles.

Populations expand exponentially: Two adult click beetles (wireworms) in year one grow to more than 200 adults and 1,000 wireworms by year three. Growers can face a loss of more than 50% of seedlings.

Symptoms Stunting damage:

Meet Dan, a man on a mission

Idaho farmer Dan Lakey was on a mission to stop wireworm damage in his wheat fields. He tried everything, and with each passing season, he grew more skeptical that a solution would ever work. 

When Dan’s local BASF field rep approached him about Teraxxa® Seed Treatment last year, with one eye partially closed and teeth gritted, Dan agreed to give yet another product a try.

“In 2020, we saw between a 50% and 70% loss in our wheat crop due to wireworm damage,” Dan said. “You start putting some math behind the losses, the replants and all the products we tried to prevent wireworm damage, our farm encountered around a $300,000 loss.”

Dan remembers his dad talking about wireworm as a kid. At that point, there was a product available that made damage less noticeable than what we see today. That product, he said, was no longer available in the market, so it became a game of darts. They kept throwing darts and hoping something would hit the bull’s-eye, but after trying everything from biologicals to “intoxicate” wireworms to increasing the wheat seeding rate to 1.5 to 2 times the normal rate, nothing seemed to work.

Finding one new dart in his hand, Dan said, “When Teraxxa Seed Treatment became available, we were optimistic but skeptical.”

Go big or go home

Fast-forward to the weeks following 2021 wheat planting, and Dan’s optimism didn’t just grow, it overflowed. He didn’t just test drive Teraxxa F4 Seed Treatment on a couple of acres. His farm applied Teraxxa F4 Seed Treatment to nearly 100 percent of its wheat acres. And despite a significant drought that year, his fields were healthy and wireworm free.

Dan explained they used Teraxxa across their farm with the exception of around 330 acres.

Another company approached us with a wireworm solution, we treated 330 acres to test the product,” Dan said. “We switched back to Teraxxa® Seed Treatment for the remaining 70 acres of that field. You can see a distinct line where one product stops and another one starts.”

Armed and ready for this year

This growing season Dan planted Teraxxa® F4 treated seeds on all his acres. He says the weather this year has been optimal for wireworms, but he has seen none.

“In all my years of farming, I had never used a product that performs the way a company claims it does . . .until using Teraxxa,” says Lakey. “It truly works.”

For wheat growers interested in learning more, contact your local BASF representative or visit Teraxxa F4.com

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