Mushroom Disease Library
An evidence-led guide to separate symptoms, causal agents, disease development, differential diagnosis and confirmation.
See the symptom. Check the cause. Act carefully.
Real research photographs with practical, nonchemical first steps. These examples come from published studies, not MushroomWale farms. Resemblance is a clue, not confirmation of disease in your crop.
- 01Observe the crop and record the pattern
- 02Limit transfer to clean areas
- 03Check the diagnosis and follow a response plan
- 04Review the next crop for recurrence
Dry bubble
Look for malformed mushrooms, split stems or wart-like growths. Later infection can appear as grey-brown cap spots; the appearance changes with crop stage.
- What to do first
- Mark the patch and do not pick out or handle dry bubbles. Avoid splashing exposed affected tissue. Have a trained supervisor contain the patch using the linked extension procedure.
- Reduce the chance of recurrence
- Keep casing, casing equipment and clean tools protected from contaminated dust and debris. Check fly control and movement of people between rooms.
- What can look similar?
- Wet bubble and other causes of spotting can look similar. A photograph cannot identify the pathogen; ask for specialist examination when the pattern is unclear.
- What to record
- Record when the first affected mushrooms appeared, their bed positions, watering history and whether new spots developed nearby.
Wet bubble
Irregular swollen tissue, severely distorted mushrooms and amber droplets are useful clues. Decay can develop as affected tissue deteriorates.
- What to do first
- Mark the area and avoid splashing it. Once wet bubble is identified, trained staff can carefully enclose local affected material in a disposable bag, seal it and follow the farm's containment and disposal procedure.
- Reduce the chance of recurrence
- Protect casing and water supplies from soil, dust and crop debris. Keep clean equipment away from contaminated floors and spent material.
- What can look similar?
- Do not apply this removal approach to an unidentified bubble: dry bubble handling differs. Ask a crop-health specialist to distinguish them.
- What to record
- Record the casing lot, first affected location, water source, spread after watering and photographs before intervention.
Cobweb disease
Watch for an expanding cottony surface growth across casing and mushrooms. Older growth may become powdery, with spotting or a pinkish tinge.
- What to do first
- Mark the patch before routine watering. Do not brush, blow or spray exposed growth. Arrange gentle containment by trained staff, following the extension procedure and the room's crop-management plan.
- Reduce the chance of recurrence
- Inspect before watering, control dust and crop debris, and clean equipment between rooms. Review how air movement and watering could carry material from an affected patch.
- What can look similar?
- Normal mushroom mycelium and other moulds may look white. Rate of spread, location and examination of samples matter more than colour alone.
- What to record
- Photograph the same marked area over time. Note nearby spotting, recent watering and which rooms shared tools or staff.
Green mould observation
A dense white patch may later become green as spores form. Poor cropping can accompany the affected area, but colour does not identify a mould species.
- What to do first
- Flag the batch and restrict movement of affected material, tools and staff into clean areas. Do not shake bags or brush spores off beds. Obtain advice on containment and whether the crop should continue.
- Reduce the chance of recurrence
- Review compost preparation, spawning hygiene and batch history together. Check cleaning and the validated end-of-crop treatment before loading another crop.
- What can look similar?
- Several moulds can appear green. Laboratory identification may be needed to establish whether Trichoderma is involved and which species it is.
- What to record
- Record whether growth is in compost, casing or surface debris, which input lots are shared, and whether other rooms from the same batch are affected.
Bacterial blotch
Yellow-brown to dark brown superficial patches may occur on caps, including places where mushrooms touch or surfaces remain wet.
- What to do first
- Check actual cap wetness after watering and look for condensation. Correct water timing and air distribution with the crop supervisor so surfaces can dry without desiccating the crop.
- Reduce the chance of recurrence
- Avoid persistent wet surfaces, uncontrolled temperature swings and splash transfer. Clean handling equipment and compare conditions across the room, not only at the wall sensor.
- What can look similar?
- Bruising, fungal spots and other bacteria can produce browning. The photographed study found more than one bacterial cause; matching a picture is not a species diagnosis.
- What to record
- Note when spotting appears relative to watering, picking and packing. Record wetness, condensation and affected positions before changing settings.
From symptom to cause
A first look, not a diagnosis. Source: ICAR-DMR manual and disease bulletin.
| What you see | Likely cause | First step |
|---|---|---|
| Long stems, small caps | CO₂ too high (above about 1,500 ppm) | More fresh air |
| Green patches on compost | Trichoderma; low pH or leftover ammonia | Isolate, remove; check next batch |
| No pins after casing | Room not aired and cooled | 16 to 18 °C, ventilate |
| Brown sunken spots on caps | Bacterial blotch; wet caps | Dry the surface, humidity under 85% |
| White wet lumps | Wet bubble from casing | Salt, remove; steam next casing |
| Small flies | Sciarid or phorid flies | Screens, light traps, hygiene |
Keep clean and suspect work separate
AI-generated educational illustrations. Not actual farm photographs, diagnostic evidence or construction specifications.
Make clean entry a routine
Clean entry has a place and a repeatable sequence. Footwear, hands and movement between areas are part of farm hygiene. The illustration does not demonstrate a validated disinfection process.
Assign the entry routine, provide suitable facilities and check that visitors and workers follow it.
Protect prepared material
Raw inputs and protected prepared material are separated. Treatment does not protect a substrate indefinitely. Handling afterwards can introduce contamination.
Keep work areas, tools and movement routes separated. Label batches so a later problem can be traced to its preparation history.
Keep suspect bags closed
A separate tray helps identify material being held for investigation. The bags are illustrative and not diagnosed. Opening, shaking or smelling suspect material is not a confirmation method.
Mark the batch, limit movement and seek qualified advice on sampling or disposal. Do not return dedicated tools to clean work without the appropriate procedure.
Plan the spent-material route
Used material and saleable harvest follow different handling paths. A disposal route can undo clean-work separation if it crosses incoming materials or harvest handling.
Map the exit route and cleaning responsibility. Check the actual workflow during a busy room turnaround, not only on a drawing.
Disease development needs context
A pathogen finding alone does not describe the whole outbreak.
Infectious or non-infectious?
These are tendencies, not absolute laws.
Infectious pattern may show
- Progression over time
- Localized spread
- Characteristic signs
- Recurrence through a pathway
Environmental pattern may show
- Rack, layer or wall alignment
- Correlation with airflow or sensors
- Shared response to a control change
- Rapid improvement after physical correction
Disease Incident Report
Explore this system
Move from the hub to the most specific evidence record.
Fungal Diseases
An evidence-led guide to compare true fungal disease with mushroom mycelium, competitor moulds and abiotic injury.
Open resource DiseaseBacterial Diseases
An evidence-led guide to connect bacterial symptoms to surface water, handling, environmental history and laboratory evidence.
Open resource DiseaseViral Diseases
An evidence-led guide to treat non-specific crop decline cautiously and make molecular confirmation explicit.
Open resource Competitor mouldCompetitor Moulds
An evidence-led guide to distinguish substrate competition from direct mushroom disease.
Open resourceQuick recognition
Use mushroom disease library to separate symptoms, causal agents, disease development, differential diagnosis and confirmation. Recognition begins the investigation; it does not confirm a cause.
- Observe early, developing and advanced signs
- Map distribution and progression
- Compare biological and abiotic causes
- Confirm before high-risk action
What to record
Capture crop stage, crop day, room, rack, layer, pattern, first observation, progression, compost and casing batches, watering, chemistry, pests and timestamped environmental readings.
Could it be something else?
Compare visual appearance with spatial pattern, progression, environmental history, process history and missing expected signs. Colour or one photograph is weak evidence.
Evidence still needed
State the unanswered questions and next measurement. Useful evidence can be visual, environmental, spatial, temporal, microscopic, laboratory, molecular, trap-based or process-history based.
Immediate safe direction
Document the affected area, avoid unnecessary disturbance or cross-room movement, isolate suspect tools, inspect adjacent areas and preserve representative evidence. Do not spray automatically.
Root-cause review
Trace the visible problem through water, evaporation, airflow, sensor placement, compost, casing, staff movement, flies, tools or room design where evidence supports the connection.
Chemical and regulatory boundary
Historical management literature is separated from current practice. No crop-protection dose is published unless the exact product, formulation, mushroom crop label, target, method, harvest interval, worker-safety information and current Indian status are verified.
When remote guidance is inadequate
Seek technical inspection or laboratory support for rapid unexplained loss, repeated outbreaks, suspected virus, unknown mould, severe pests, chemical injury, multiple affected rooms or unresolved contradictions.
Trace the claim and its limits.
Pathogen biology, dated advisories and current regulatory status are stored separately.
Diseases and Competitor Moulds of Mushrooms and their Management
Indian mushroom disease descriptions, symptoms, epidemiology, historical taxonomy and competitor-mould records.
Open sourceICAR-DMR Technical Bulletin Library
Institutional publication index for disease, farm-design, post-harvest and spent-substrate references.
Open sourceFungal diseases of mushrooms and their control
Dry bubble, wet bubble and cobweb symptom progression and hygiene pathways.
Open sourceDirectorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage regulatory functions
Indian pesticide registration and regulatory-governance context under the Insecticides Act and Rules.
Open sourceChemical governance is a publication gate.
No operational pesticide, fungicide, insecticide, disinfectant or fumigant dose is published. Historical references are not current labels.
- Current operational dose
- Not published
- Mushroom crop label
- Not established by this record
- Review status
- Regulatory review required