If you find holes in your potato tubers, chances are there could be an infestation of pests that are eating them underground. The most common culprits include wireworms, grubs, slugs, and voles. Wireworms have an elongated shape with a hard exoskeleton and can range in color from yellow to brown.

Potatoes face challenges from pests that eat them from below ground level. Common underground pests that feed on potatoes include wireworms, white grubs, slugs, potato beetles and cutworms.

Gardeners who grow potatoes in the ground or in raised beds may find themselves facing damage from mice and voles from time to time. These two little critters love to burrow through garden soil in search of potato tubers.

6 common pests that can eat your potatoes underground include potato flea beetles, wireworms, and potato tuber moths. You may also often find white grubs, cutworms, and Colorado beetles destroying your crops from beneath the soil.

So, although potatoes grow underground, they are stems, not roots, and are known as “tubers.” Do potatoes live underground? The edible part of the potato is the underground “tuber” which is an enlarged underground storage portion of the potato plant.