The use of chemicals, antagonists, repellents and physical barriers for the control of Lycoriella auripila (Diptera: Sciaridae), a pest of the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus

Summary The sciarid, Lycoriella auripila , is a serious pest of commercial mushroom production. A series of trials demonstrated that the use of early, specifically‐targeted, treatments of insecticides and/or antagonists and repellents, which distance treatment time from crop harvest, have the potential to play a useful part in the control of initial and subsequent generations of this pest. Of the treatments examined, those involving a drench treatment of the compost at filling (before pasteurisation) proved to be the most effective. Cyromazine and diflubenzuron were the most active insecticides tested, with cyromazine achieving a superior level of control of the initial infestation. Repellents and antifeedants were also effective, with calcium oxalate and sinapic acid both achieving about 50% control when applied at filling. Treatments applied later during the production cycle, unless in combination with a treatment at filling, were progressively less effective at controlling both the initial sciarid infestation and later generations of larvae. Multiple treatments caused greater reductions in fly populations than did the single treatments and continued to do so throughout the cropping cycle, the greatest reduction in the initial generation (79%) occurring with a triple treatment of cyromazine. With the exception of some diflubenzuron treatments, those that were effective resulted in increases in yield. The use of a physical paper barrier caused significant increases in both fly numbers and total yield.