They hatch into larvae that feed on the roots of a variety of plants. The wireworm overwinters as a larva. When sweet corn is planted in this field the following spring, the wireworms feed on the kernels and cause poor germination and stunted, spindly, sickly plants that often die or are nonproductive. They may be found hiding in terminal buds of weeds and crop plants or down in the whorl of young corn. The adults lay eggs during June from which larvae hatch.
Damage varies from year to year, but some injury occurs every year.
Some years there are widespread outbreaks and then many years may pass without damage being reported. During this period they are easily pulled out of the ground because most of the roots have been severed. Over two dozen sand wireworms may be found per hill of corn in a heavily infested field. Surviving plants do not yield normally. Pupation occurs during May, eggs are laid from June 15 to July 15, and the tiny larvae feed for a while on the roots of various plants but cause no damage to the mature crops.