How is pollution-free prevention and control of pests and diseases in oyster mushrooms carried out?

During oyster mushroom cultivation, infections by various contaminant fungi such as green mold, blue mold, Mucor and Neurospora can occur, as well as damage by various pests such as mushroom mites, mushroom flies and mushroom gnats, sometimes even causing total loss of yield. Oyster mushrooms are a fast-growing, fresh and tender food, so pesticides with long residual effects and highly toxic pesticides are not suitable for use. Adopting pollution-free prevention and control techniques to manage pests and diseases is of great significance for producing safe and healthy edible mushroom products.

1. Environmental hygiene The utensils and materials used for edible mushroom cultivation can be moved into the mushroom shed and fumigated in a sealed environment with formaldehyde to sterilize and kill insects, eliminating harmful fungal and insect sources.

2. Raw material treatment. Reducing the pest and disease base. For raw materials used in oyster mushroom cultivation, it is best to pretreat them before use. On clear days, they can be exposed to the sun for 2 to 3 days to use ultraviolet rays to kill pathogens and insect eggs. The compost can also be fermented, relying on biological heat to kill low-temperature microorganisms and insect eggs, reducing pathogenic bacteria and insect eggs in the compost to the lowest level and decreasing infection opportunities.

3. Ecological regulation, strong alkalinity inhibits fungi. Microorganisms mostly prefer a neutral to slightly acidic environment. Tolerance to an alkaline environment varies greatly among different fungal species. The alkaline tolerance of oyster mushrooms is far greater than that of common contaminant fungi. Therefore, increasing the alkalinity of the compost can be adopted to slow down or inhibit the growth rate of contaminant fungi without affecting the growth of oyster mushroom mycelium, allowing the oyster mushroom mycelium to rapidly colonize the compost and restrict the contaminant fungi. Practice has shown that adding 3% to 4% quicklime to the compost can significantly inhibit the growth of contaminant fungi while having almost no effect on oyster mushroom mycelium.

4. Oxygen control to inhibit fungi. Oyster mushrooms are aerobic fungi, but their mycelium has a relatively strong tolerance to carbon dioxide. Appropriately limiting the oxygen supply has a good effect on controlling contaminant fungi. When filling bags for bag cultivation, the tightness should be appropriate, and ventilation holes should be made at the spawn area so that a relatively high carbon dioxide concentration is maintained inside the substrate, inhibiting the reproduction of contaminant fungi within the substrate and achieving the goal of controlling them.

5. Post-harvest treatment. After harvesting oyster mushrooms, promptly remove residual stumps, fallen compost and shriveled young mushrooms to prevent the growth of contaminant fungi. If contamination by contaminant fungi is found on the surface of the substrate, it can be gently dabbed off with a brush dipped in concentrated limewater, and concentrated limewater should be applied to the contaminated areas to prevent further spread of the contaminant fungi.