Things to Know About Introducing Edible Mushrooms and Key Points for Winter Pest Control

The widening temperature difference in winter drives pests that were originally outside the mushroom shed to enter the shed one after another and cause damage, further increasing the difficulty of control. In actual production, many mushroom growers neglect prevention, and once pests break out, they use large amounts of chemical pesticides in pursuit of rapid elimination, with results that are often less than satisfactory.

Physical prevention: Since the raw materials may contain live insects or eggs, do not sow directly with raw materials; at the very least, they should be fermented before use, and it is best to adopt cooked-material cultivation or use them for spawn production. Strictly check whether the spawn carries insects; purchased spawn should be carefully inspected before transfer inoculation to prevent the occurrence of inoculating with insect-carrying spawn. Seal the ventilation openings and entrances and exits of the mushroom shed with insect-proof netting to prevent adult insects from flying in. Spread lime isolation belts at the ventilation openings and entrances and exits to prevent crawling pests from entering.

Chemical prevention: 1. Add drugs such as phoxim when mixing materials, generally at about 100 ml per 1000 kg of dry material; for raw-material cultivation, it can be added along with material mixing, while for fermented-material cultivation the best timing is to add it before the last turning of the pile, and after high temperature and pile fermentation, the insecticidal effect is very ideal. 2. Within a certain distance outside the shed, after cleaning up waste material, highly effective insecticidal drugs such as trichlorfon can be used to kill insects and cut off the routes by which pests arrive.

3. Outside the shed and at the ventilation openings, entrances and exits of the shed, spray highly effective low-residue drugs such as cypermethrin to prevent crawling pests from entering the shed.

4. Inside the mushroom shed, drugs such as cypermethrin can generally be sprayed for insect control, and abamectin can be used to kill mites; for pests such as mushroom gnats and mushroom flies, if conditions permit, highly effective insect repellent can be used for repellence.