How to prevent and control common mushroom pests and diseases?

I. Mushroom brown rot: also known as mushroom Mycogone perniciosa disease, blister disease, white rot, etc. It is currently the most damaging disease in mushroom cultivation. Besides harming mushrooms, it can also harm oyster mushrooms, straw mushrooms, silver ear fungus, and Ganoderma.

Symptoms: The disease shows different symptoms at different developmental stages of the mushroom. When the mushroom begins to knot and form young buttons (before the fruiting body has differentiated), it is susceptible to infection, forming hard, horse-neck-shaped irregular tissue masses. These are covered with a layer of white fuzzy mycelium, which later darkens and finally turns dark brown, with dark brown droplets seeping from the diseased tissue. Small buttons beneath the casing soil can also be infected, appearing as small spots of white mycelium on the casing surface. If infected after the stipe and cap have differentiated, the stipe turns brown. At the late stage of fruiting body development, infection at the base of the stipe causes light brown discoloration. In severe cases, the entire first flush of mushrooms is lost with no harvest at all.

Control methods:

1. Re-fermentation: Mycogone perniciosa spores cannot tolerate high temperatures. Subjecting the compost to a second fermentation can kill the pathogen spores in the compost and prevent disease occurrence.

2. Choose an appropriate spawning time so that the fruiting period avoids the high temperatures that trigger the disease. Keep the mushroom house temperature below 15°C. When the disease first appears, immediately stop watering, increase ventilation, dry the surface of the mushroom bed, and lower the temperature to below 15°C.

3. Chemical control: Spray the affected area with 1%-2% formaldehyde solution, or 50% carbendazim, or 70% thiophanate-methyl at 500 times dilution.

4. Casing soil disinfection. Treat with Pasteurization (60°C) for 1 hour, or disinfect with 40% formaldehyde.

5. Replace the soil. In severe cases, remove the original casing soil and replace it with fresh soil.

6. Pest control. Properly control mushroom gnats and mushroom flies in the mushroom house.

II. Mushroom virus disease: This disease occurs commonly and causes severe damage. The degree of damage is related to the stage of infection. Generally, if virus-carrying spawn is used, the disease develops early in mushroom development, greatly affecting yield or even causing total crop failure. If infection occurs during the mycelial growth stage from virus-carrying basidiospores landing on the mushroom bed and germinating, the first flush grows normally and yield is unaffected, but in subsequent flushes, as diseased mushrooms increase batch by batch, yield declines batch by batch.

Symptoms: The most obvious symptoms on the fruiting body are elongation of the stipe and a very small cap, sometimes with the cap diameter not exceeding that of the stipe. Some caps are thin and flat, opening early. Brown spots or stripe-like spots often appear on the stipe of diseased mushrooms. Water can be squeezed out from inside the stipe.

Control methods: 1. Cultivate and use virus-free spawn. 2. Cover the mushroom bed. After spawning, cover the bed surface with plastic film or old newspaper to prevent virus-carrying spores from landing in the compost, and regularly (every 5-6 days) spray with 0.5% formaldehyde solution until casing. 3. Maintain good sanitation in the mushroom house. Thoroughly disinfect the mushroom house before use. After production ends, promptly remove waste materials; soak, scrub, and sun-dry the bed frames and tools, then brush them with a mixture of 1% sodium carbonate plus 2% sodium pentachlorophenate, then spray the mushroom house walls, floor, and beds with 5% formaldehyde solution, or fumigate with sulfur.

III. Oyster mushroom sciarid fly (Lycoriella ingenua): Belongs to the order Diptera, family Sciaridae. It is the most common and most serious pest harming oyster mushrooms. The larvae damage the mycelium and fruiting bodies of oyster mushrooms. In severe cases, they can eat all the mycelium. When damaging fruiting bodies, they bore holes in the stipe and eat away the gills.

Control methods: 1. Maintain good environmental sanitation to reduce pest sources. Install screen doors and screen windows to prevent insects from entering. 2. Use the phototaxis of adults for light trapping. 3. In severe cases, after harvesting mushrooms, spray with 1.8% abamectin EC at 2000-2500 times dilution, or 90% trichlorfon at 1000 times dilution.

IV. Harmful mites: commonly known as fungus lice. They mainly harm mushrooms, straw mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, Phoenix mushrooms, silver ear fungus, black wood ear fungus, and many other edible fungi. Harmful mites bite through mycelium so it cannot germinate, and can also bite young buttons and mature fruiting bodies. In severe outbreaks, they can eat all the mycelium in the compost, causing total crop failure.

Control methods: 1. Ensure spawn quality. Make sure the spawn does not carry harmful mites. 2. Keep the mushroom house at a certain distance from grain, feed, and fertilizer warehouses. 3. Subject the compost to a second fermentation. 4. Mix deltamethrin with lime powder, put it in a gauze bag, and shake it around the mushroom bed, or spray around the mushroom bed with 1.8% abamectin EC at 2000 times dilution. 5. Trap and kill. Place cotton balls soaked in 40%-50% dichlorvos under the mushroom bed, placing 3 balls every 70-80 cm in a triangular arrangement, and cover the compost on the mushroom bed with a sheet of plastic film or wet gauze. After the mites gather on it, remove it and put it in hot water to scald them to death.