What are the pest prevention measures for edible fungi in winter?

Edible fungi are a common type of vegetable in daily life, with a delicious taste and very high nutritional value, and are deeply loved by people. During the cultivation of edible fungi, the appearance of pests seriously affects the normal growth of edible fungi. This article will introduce pest prevention measures for edible fungi in winter.

In winter, pests remain a major threat in edible fungi production, sometimes even more serious than in summer. Pests such as fungus gnats, mushroom flies and springtails may seem insignificant, but they can cause irreparable losses to production in a very short time. In particular, pests such as mole crickets, earwigs, millipedes and snails are larger in size and even more harmful. To effectively control pests, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of combining prevention and control: "put effort into prevention, and kill thoroughly when controlling." The specific methods can be summarized mainly into three points:

Physical prevention 1. Mushroom sheds should be built away from villages, stables and latrines, garbage dumps, manure piles and other such 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 pest eggs or live pests. 3. If the raw materials contain live pests or pest eggs, do not directly sow with raw materials. At minimum, use them after fermentation treatment, or adopt cooked material cultivation or use them for spawn production. 4. Strictly check whether the spawn carries pests. Carefully inspect purchased spawn before transfer inoculation to prevent the phenomenon of inoculating with pest-carrying spawn. 5. Install insect-proof nets on ventilation openings and entrances and exits of mushroom sheds to prevent adult pests from flying in. 6. Spread lime isolation belts at ventilation openings and entrances and exits to prevent crawling pests from entering.

Prevention 1. When mixing materials, add phoxim and similar products. The dosage is generally 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 timing for application is before the first turning of the pile. After high temperature and pile fermentation, the insecticidal effect is very ideal. 2. Within a certain distance outside the shed, after cleaning up waste materials, high-efficiency insecticides such as trichlorfon can be used to kill pests and cut off the pests' route of entry. 3. Outside the shed and at ventilation openings and entrances and exits of the shed, spray cypermethrin-type high-efficiency, low-residue insecticides to prevent crawling pests from entering the shed. 4. Inside the mushroom shed, cypermethrin and similar insecticides can generally be sprayed, and avermectin can be used to kill mites. For pests such as fungus gnats and mushroom flies, if conditions permit, a high-efficiency insect repellent can be used for repellence. Its mechanism of action is: using the odor that adult fungus gnats and mushroom flies dislike to repel them, so the 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 fungus gnats and mushroom flies avoid it as much as possible. Even if an occasional pest enters the shed, it will quickly flee because of the unpleasant odor and cannot cause damage.

For pest killing, when the spawn contains live pests or pest eggs, the spawn can be put into a large plastic bag (wide double-layer greenhouse film, tied at one end to form a bag), and aluminum phosphide is 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 mycelial growth period, if pests occur accidentally, water can be sprinkled on the ground, the fungus bags can be placed together (pay attention to temperature to prevent burning the fungus), then covered with plastic film, and aluminum phosphide can be placed under the film at the same dosage as above. However, care should be taken 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 "escapees" that entered because prevention was not strict, pyrethroid insecticides can be sprayed appropriately on adults. Adult fungus gnats are extremely sensitive to insecticides, so a concentration used for vegetables is sufficient. If larvae have already been found, aluminum phosphide can be used for killing according to the above method, but the fruiting bodies should be picked off. For young buds, treatment can be applied while the buds are present. For general initial pest outbreaks, all can be killed within 4-6 hours.