Identification and Control of the Mushroom Mite Histiostoma feroniarum

Histiostoma feroniarum belongs to the family Histiostomatidae, genus Histiostoma. This mite is a cosmopolitan pest mite; wherever the environment is suitable for edible mushroom growth, its presence and occurrence are possible.

(1) Damage characteristics: Histiostoma feroniarum can infest mushroom spawn bottles, reducing the finished product rate; it infests mushroom beds, affecting yield, and is one of the pest mites of cultivated mushrooms. When mushroom bed humidity is too low or food is scarce, it produces large numbers of reddish-brown active hypopus (dormant) forms, which gather on the bed surface or on fruiting bodies, and disperse by drifting in light breezes or by attaching to insects and other animals. This mite feeds on decayed mushroom remnants or humus in the substrate; once it occurs on a mushroom bed, it accelerates the rotting of the fruiting bodies, thereby further raising bed humidity and deteriorating the ecological environment for edible mushrooms. Therefore, the occurrence of Histiostoma feroniarum indicates that the infested edible mushrooms will suffer reduced or zero harvest.

(2) Occurrence pattern: On rotting fruiting bodies of button mushroom, shiitake, oyster mushroom, etc., or in moist culture medium, the larval mite, nymphal mite, adult mite and other mite stages of Histiostoma feroniarum are frequently found; when fruiting bodies lose water or the culture medium is relatively dry, hypopus (dormant) forms appear. This mite prefers moisture and fears dryness, and frequently occurs in moist edible mushroom beds and rotting organic matter, especially in very large numbers on fruiting bodies soaked with suspension liquid, where it slowly crawls on the surface to feed and reproduce. When conditions are unsuitable, large numbers of hypopus forms gather on the surface of the culture medium. The hypopus supports itself on the ground with legs 3 and 4, and raises legs 1 and 2, so as to attach to animals moving past it and thereby disperse and spread. Overall, it occurs relatively commonly on mushroom beds where edible mushrooms grow poorly and mycelium declines in the later stage.

(3) Control methods: ① Cultivate healthy spawn to raise the finished product rate of spawn, making the spawn mycelium thick and vigorous. ② Pay attention to environmental hygiene; do not pile up sundries and waste materials randomly around the mushroom house, to avoid contamination by foreign microbes and reduce breeding sites for pest mites. Do not build the mushroom house near grain storage warehouses. ③ Strict disinfection: thoroughly clean the mushroom house before spawning, and fumigate and disinfect with chemical agents; eliminate pest mites in the culture medium by composting and fermenting or by spraying and mixing pesticides.