The use of mushrooms as medicine dates back thousands of years and is increasing in demand as we once again begin to understand the vast benefits for our health. Cultivating mushrooms is a growing industry, but it can be challenging. Depending on the species and the overall set-up for cultivation, you may encounter some pests that are also interested in the benefits of mushrooms with little regard for your yields.
Decomposers
Many mushroom pests fall into the category of decomposers. Flies in the sciarid, phorid and cecid families are known decomposers found throughout the world. Springtails, mites and nematodes are often present in the growing media needed for certain varieties of mushrooms. While the role of decomposers is critical in the environment, they can make mushroom cultivation near impossible when sanitation precautions are lacking. These annoying pests are drawn to the smell of composts and mushrooms, have a fast reproduction rate, and can infest all stages of mushroom cultivation. If present at the spawning stage, they might make it challenging to get a crop to harvest.
Keep it Clean
Sanitation is critical to healthy mushroom cultivation. Your set-up must include exclusion methods like screening on all vents, light traps for flying adults, and pasteurization of growing media. These pests’ larval stages cause the most damage, with eggs likely found in the growing media. Without proper sanitation, you risk bringing bugs into your cultivation room, a perfect environment for them to feast and reproduce.
Pest Problems
The sciarid and phorid flies will feed on the compost media, the mycelium, and mushrooms, while the cecid flies will focus on the mycelium and stipe. When there is an attack at the pin head stage, development often stops, and the pin heads eventually die. Flies in the sciarid family are also known to spread spores of fungi such as Trichoderma that may be pathogenic to cultivation. Mites may be introduced on poor quality compost or be spread by the phorid flies. That’s right; mites will attach themselves to the phorid flies and travel around using the flies as a private plane. Springtails are connoisseurs of mycelium and can cause the mycelium to disappear completely. They also feed directly on the gills of oyster and shiitake species.
The Solutions
If you face unwanted visitors, some biological-based solutions can be applied to mitigate the infestation while the crop grows. Beneficial nematodes such as Steinernema feltiae are well-known to control flies in the sciarids family. This beneficial nematode can be applied directly to the growing media and will infect the larval stage of the sciarids, liquefying their innards. Soil-dwelling predatory mites such as Stratiolaelaps scimitus spend their days hunting out the larval of sciarids, springtails, mites, and other insects in the media. They can survive without a food source for seven to eight weeks. Because they can go without food for so long, this predatory mite can be applied preventatively to new growing media after pasteurization. This is the preferred biological control as it targets a wider variety of potential pests that may be present in the cultivation area.
After Harvest
Once the harvest is complete, clean the growing area thoroughly. Heat treatments in the empty growing area can kill pathogenic fungi spores and insects hiding in small cracks and crevices uneasy to reach with disinfectants. Spent compost should be disposed of far away from the cultivation area to avoid pests from returning. Trapping methods for flying insects should be included in your preventative measures. For every adult female caught in a trap, you’ve removed dozens, if not hundreds, of her offspring from breeding in your crop. While sanitation is the most critical aspect of avoiding these pests, there is some comfort in knowing that not all is lost should they appear.
