""A patent for a pesticide made from mushrooms was granted in 2006. This pesticide is safe, nontoxic and can control over two-hundred thousand types of insects. Fungi are known to cause insect diseases and the use of spores from fungi has been known for over 100 years. Previous patents were granted as far back as 1992 for fungal ant killers and termite control. In 2014, pesticides were a $16 million dollar business. A fungi-based pesticide is safer to use, safer for the planet, and has no lasting effect on the plants or planet.
Current situation with insects and pesticides
Over 1 million types of insects populate our planet, but only 1 percent are harmful and considered to be "pests." They are considered to be pests because they eat the foods we grow, or harm the livestock we need, or destroy our homes. The cost of the destruction caused by pests is high, as is the effects of chemical pesticides used to eradicate them. Many insects are now becoming resistant to pesticides. In addition, use of pesticides has been linked to causing many problems including human infertility, birth defects and the demise of the honeybee population. Pesticide use also harms natural insect predators, such as rabbits and other beneficial insects.
How the mushroom pesticide works
The fungi pesticide works by attracting the insect, who then eats it and dies. A fungus is grown on grain or wood, or agricultural waste products. Insects are attracted to the fungus. When the insects eat the fungus, they become infected with the fungi, which kills them. Depending on the insect population, a variety of fungi, or a combination of different fungi can be used. Some of the fungi have what is called "phagostimulatory effect" which means that they cause the insects to want to feed. Basically, they increase the insects' hunger, then lead them to eat the poisonous mushrooms.
Research on using fungi as insecticides
Research on Eastern subterranean termites was conducted over a period of 14 days using three different types of mycelium test strains on rice. Beauveria bassiana # 74038, Beauveria bassiana # 20872, and Metarhizium anisopliae # 62176.
Mortality rates varied between 100 percent and 66 percent in the termites who ate the mycelium, compared to a death rate of only 45.46 percent in the control group. The same myceliums were used in research with red imported fire ants. After 21 days, the mortally of the ants ranged between 100 percent and 82 percent, compared to only 66 percent in the control group.
Mushroom pesticide use
The combination of fungi can be packaged and reactivated when needed. It can be sold dried, freeze dried, or as pellets, making the sale and distribution of this type of pesticidesimple and convenient. All that is needed by the farmer is to open the package and leave it near where insects are gathering. They can also be used to trap insects. Pesticides made from mushrooms are a safe alternative to chemical pesticides now on the market.""
""I’ve been growing mushrooms outdoors on logs for about 20 years. I’ve done this by inoculating logs with little wooden plugs called plug spawn that I purchased and inserted into holes I drilled in the logs. Then I let them develop in the shade of a hemlock tree where they generally produce mushrooms in a year or less. Pretty easy. The best time to cut logs for growing mushrooms is late winter or early spring when the sap begins to run, so I am thinking about getting some logs soon and starting another batch. After all, there isn’t much else I can do in the garden for months.
The first step in the process of growing mushrooms is finding logs that are appropriate for the mushrooms you want to grow. I have used oak and poplar for growing shiitake mushrooms, but according to Paul Stamets’ book, "Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World," almost any deciduous tree species is fine for shiitakes, the mushrooms I have grown in the past. Pine, hemlock and other conifers are not recommended.
The logs you plan to use to raise shiitakes or other mushrooms need to be fresh. If you were to go in the woods and find a downed tree, it probably would already have fungi growing in the wood (mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi). So you need to cut down a living tree (or better yet, have a person skilled with a chain saw cut it down for you). Or call up someone who sells firewood and explain what you want: logs 3 to 4 feet long and 4 to 8 inches in diameter that are freshly cut.
In the past I have most often inoculated poplar logs because the trees are fast growing, and I always have some ‘volunteers’ that need to be removed. Oaks are the species most commonly colonized by shiitakes in their native habitat of Japan, and produce for a longer time than poplar, but take longer to produce their first flush of mushrooms — up to 14 months. And they are a tree species I value, so it’s harder to sacrifice one.
I learned from "Mycelium Running" that not just shiitakes can be raised on logs. These species will also work, and are available from Stamets’ web site, fungi.com: Reishi, Maitake, Lion's Mane, Pearl, Blue and Phoenix Oyster, Chicken of the Woods and Turkey Tail.
So how do I inoculate my logs? Using a 5/16-inch drill bit, I drill lines of holes about 8 inches apart from one end to the other. Then I drill another row of holes 4 to 6 inches from the first row. I stagger the holes so they don’t line up next to each other, from row to row. Then, with a hammer, I tap in the spore plugs that I have purchased. The holes should go a bit deeper into the wood than the length of the plug.""
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