Growing edible mushrooms in autumn requires strict precautions against pests

In autumn, pests remain a major threat in edible mushroom production, sometimes even more serious than in summer. Especially in late autumn, the widening temperature difference drives pests that were originally outside the mushroom shed to enter the shed one after another, further increasing the difficulty of control. Pests such as mushroom gnats, mushroom flies, and springtails may seem insignificant, but they can cause irreversible losses to production in a very short time. Pests such as mole crickets, earwigs, millipedes, and snails are especially large in size and even more damaging. In actual production, many mushroom growers do not pay attention to pest prevention, and once pests break out, they use large amounts of chemical pesticides in pursuit of rapid extermination, often with unsatisfactory results. To effectively control pests, it is essential to adhere to the principle of combining prevention and control: "invest effort in prevention, and exterminate thoroughly when killing." The specific methods come down to three main points:

Physical prevention: 1. Mushroom sheds should be built away from villages, livestock pens and toilets, garbage dumps, manure piles, and similar places, so that the fruiting environment is far from pest sources. 2. Raw and auxiliary materials should be exposed to strong sunlight to avoid carrying insect eggs or live insects. 3. If the raw materials contain live insects or insect eggs, do not directly sow them as raw material; at the very least, use them only after fermentation treatment, and preferably adopt cooked-material cultivation or use them for spawn production. 4. Strictly check whether the spawn carries insects, and carefully inspect purchased spawn before transfer inoculation to prevent inoculation with insect-infested spawn. 5. Seal ventilation openings and entrances and exits of the mushroom shed with insect-proof nets to prevent adult insects from flying in. 6. Spread lime isolation belts at ventilation openings and entrances and exits to prevent crawling pests from entering.

Chemical prevention: 1. Add pesticides 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; for fermented-material cultivation, the best time to apply the pesticide is before the last turning, and after high temperature and piling, the insecticidal effect is very good. 2. Within a certain distance outside the shed, after cleaning up waste material, highly effective insecticides such as trichlorfon can be used for pest control to cut off the pests' route. 3. Outside the shed and at ventilation openings and entrances and exits of the shed, spray highly effective low-residue pesticides such as cypermethrin to prevent crawling pests from entering the shed. 4. Inside the mushroom shed, pesticides such as cypermethrin can generally be sprayed for pest 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 to repel them. The mechanism of this pesticide is as follows: it uses the chemical odor disliked by adult mushroom gnats and mushroom flies to repel them. Adults do not dare enter the shed, let alone enter the material to lay eggs. After the adults are repelled, the larvae that cause damage have no opportunity to act. This odor makes mushroom gnats and mushroom flies avoid it if possible; even if an occasional insect enters the shed, it will quickly flee because the odor is unpleasant and will be unable to cause damage.

Chemical insecticide treatment: When the spawn contains live insects or insect eggs, the spawn can be placed in a large plastic bag (wide double-layer shed film, tied at one end to form a bag), and aluminum phosphide can be added at a rate of 4 tablets per cubic meter of space. After about 6 hours, the bag can be opened and the spawn used.

During the mycelium running period, if pests occur accidentally, water can be sprinkled on the ground, and the mushroom bags can be placed together (pay attention to temperature to prevent overheating the mycelium), then covered with plastic film. Place aluminum phosphide pesticide under the film at the same rate as above, but be sure to place it evenly and seal the plastic film. After about 6 hours, remove the film and normal management can resume.

If pests are found during the fruiting period, and if they are "escaped pests" that entered because prevention was not strict, pyrethroid pesticides can be sprayed appropriately on adults. Adult mushroom gnats have very low pesticide tolerance, so the lowest concentration used for vegetables is sufficient. If larvae have already been found, aluminum phosphide can be used for extermination as described above, but the fruiting bodies should be picked off. For young buds, the pesticide can be used while the buds remain. Generally, for newly occurring pests, all can be killed in 4 to 6 hours.