Method for controlling flies infesting mushrooms by using a N-arylpyrazole or a n-heteroarylpyrazole compound

A method for controlling flies infesting mushrooms or expected to infest mushrooms comprising applying to the locus where the insects are or are expected to be an effective amount of a compound of the formula ##STR1## wherein the substituents are defined in the specification, preferably the compound 5-amino-3-cyano-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-4-trifluoromethyl sulfinylpyrazole. A method for cultivating mushrooms comprising impregnating the covering or casing layer which is used for the cultivation of mushrooms upon the bottom or feeding layer with an effective amount of a compound of formula (I), preferably 5-amino-3-cyano- -1-(2,6-dichloro-4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-4-trifluoromethylsulfinylpyrazol e.

Many insecticides have been described in international patent applications 
WO 87/3781, 93/6089, 94/21606, and European patent application EP 295,117. 
However, this prior art does not teach how to protect mushroom 
cultivations against the flies which are able to infest them. Actually, 
there is a real and specific need to control flies infesting mushrooms, 
especially those of the Diptera order and of the families Sciaridae, 
Phoridae and Cecidae, and possibly other, while making no damage to 
mushrooms or as little as possible. Various insecticides have been used 
and have some efficacy, but none are satisfactory and none meets all the 
growers desires. 
Insects from the families Sciaridae, Phoridae and Cecidae are often 
particularly troublesome in the cultivation of mushrooms. At the present 
time, it is necessary to apply different insecticides to the cultivation 
area of mushrooms to control pests from each of these three families. 
Before the invention, no single insecticide able to control these three 
families was available in the mushroom Industry. Moreover, compounds used 
in this invention have also been found to be active against insects 
resistant to pyrethroid, cyclodiene and organophosphate insecticides and 
especially effective against the insecticide resistant Sciaridae and 
Phoridae which are currently difficult to control. Among the Sciaridae 
family, the species Lycoriella Mali is especially a source of trouble. 
Among the Phoridae family, the species Megasella Halterata is especially a 
source of trouble. Among the Cecidae family, the species Heteropeza pygmae 
and Mycophila barnesi are especially a source of trouble. These insect 
pests make the mushrooms unfit for sale and/or reduce the yield of 
production and/or are vectors for transmission of other diseases, so that, 
anyway, they are much damageable. 
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of control of 
flies infesting mushrooms which have not the inconveniences of the known 
insecticides which are used by growers. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of control 
of flies infesting mushrooms which is as little toxic as possible for 
mushrooms. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of control 
of flies infesting mushrooms which does not require many or multiple 
applications of active ingredients, as the known insecticides. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of control 
of flies infesting or expected to infest mushrooms, said method using a 
single application of insecticidally active material up to the time of the 
harvest. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an effective method 
of control of flies infesting mushrooms at the various development stages 
of these insects, including the larvae. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an effective method 
of control of flies infesting mushrooms which does not require a direct 
application of the active ingredient to the mushrooms. This is a 
substantial advantage as far as it substantially reduces the risk of 
toxicity or of the presence of toxic residues in the mushrooms used as 
food. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an effective method 
of control of Diptera flies infesting or expected to infest mushrooms, 
said method being compatible with commercial mushroom production or 
systematic mushroom cultivation. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of control 
of flies infesting mushrooms or expected to infest mushrooms, those 
mushrooms being cultivated mushrooms and/or mushrooms which are used as 
human food, especially: 
those of the Agaricus family, including Agaricus bisporus, the oyster 
mushrooms, which are also known are pleurotus spp. the Shiitake mushrooms, 
also known as Lentinus edodes, the paddy straw mushroom also known as 
Valvariella volvacea. 
It has now been found that these objectives can be met partially or totally 
according to the instant invention and by means of the methods of control 
as described in the instant specification. 
This invention is directed to a method of control of flies infesting 
mushrooms or expected to infest mushrooms whereby an effective amount of 
an arylpyrazole compound of formula (I) is applied to the locus where the 
insects are or are expected to be. 
This invention is also directed to a method of control of flies infesting 
mushrooms or expected to infest mushrooms whereby an effective amount of a 
compound of formula (I) is applied to the soil where the mushrooms are 
grown up. 
This invention is also directed to a method of control of Diptera flies 
infesting mushrooms or expected to infest mushrooms which are of one or 
more of the families Sciaridae, Phoridae and Cecidae, especially those 
species as here above already indicated. 
This invention is also directed to a method of control of flies infesting 
mushrooms or expected to infest mushrooms whereby an effective amount of a 
compound of formula (I) is applied or brought into contact or administered 
to the insects to be controlled. 
The effective amounts in the instant specification are insecticidally 
effective amounts. 
In the instant invention, the compounds of formula (1) are those who have 
the formula: 
##STR2## 
wherein: R.sub.1 is CN or methyl; 
R.sub.2 is S(O).sub.n R.sub.3 ; 
R.sub.3 is alkyl or haloallyl; 
R4 is selected from the group comprising a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, 
and a radical which may be --NR.sub.5 R.sub.6, C(O)OR.sub.7, 
--S(O)mR.sub.7, alkyl, haloalkyl, --OR.sub.8, 
or--N.dbd.C(R.sub.9)(R.sub.10); R.sub.4 is preferably a amino group, which 
is unsubstituted or which bears one or two substituents selected from the 
group consisting of alkyl, haloallyl, acyl and alkoxycarbonyl; 
R.sub.5 and R.sub.6 are independently selected from a hydrogen atom, alky, 
haloalkyl, --C(O)alkyl, C(O)OR.sub.7, --S(O).sub.r CF.sub.3; or R.sub.5 
and R.sub.6 form together a divalent radical which may be interrupted by 
one or more heteroatoms; 
R.sub.7 is selected from alkyl or haloalkyl; 
R.sub.8 is selected from alkyl, haloallyl or the hydrogen atom; 
R.sub.9 is selected from the hydrogen atom and alkyl; 
R.sub.10 selected from phenyl or heteroaryl that is optionally substituted 
by one or more hydroxy, a halogen atom, ---O---alkyl. -S-alkyl, cyano. or 
alkyl or combinations thereof; 
X is selected from the Nitrogen atom and the radical C--R.sub.12 ; 
R.sub.11 and R.sub.12 are independently selected from a halogen atom or the 
hydrogen atom; 
R.sub.13 is selected from a halogen atom, haloalkyl, haloalkoxy, 
--S(O)qCF.sub.3--, SF.sub.5, preferably from a halogen atom, haloalkyl, 
haloalkoxy, --SF.sub.5 ; 
m,n,q,r are independently selected from 0,1, and 2; 
provided that when R.sub.1 is methyl, then R.sub.3 is haloalkyl, R4 is 
NH.sub.2, R.sub.11 is Cl, R.sub.13 is CF.sub.3, and X is N. 
The alkyl and alkoxy groups of the formula (I) are preferably lower alkyl 
and alkoxy groups, that is, radicals having one to four carbon atoms. The 
haloalkyl and haloalkoxy groups likewise preferably have one to four 
carbon atoms. The haloalkyl and haloalkoxy groups can bear one or more 
halogen atoms; preferred groups of this type include --CF.sub.3 and 
--OCF.sub.3. 
A preferred group of 1-phenylpyrazoles for use in the present invention are 
those of formula (I) wherein: 
R.sub.1 is CN; and/or 
R.sub.4 is --NR.sub.5 R.sub.6 ; and/or R.sub.5 and R6 are independently 
selected from the hydrogen atom, alkyl, haloalkyl, --C(O)alkyl, 
C(O)OR.sub.7 ; and/or X is C-R.sub.12 ; and/or R.sub.13 is selected from a 
halogen atom, haloalkyl, haloalkoxy, or --SF.sub.5, and R.sub.2, R.sub.3, 
R.sub.7, R.sub.11, R.sub.12 and n are as defined above. 
Specific pyrazole derivatives usable in the method falling within the scope 
of the present invention include 
5-amino-3-cyano-l-(2,6dichloro-4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-4-trifIuoromethyls 
ulfinylpyrazole. This especially preferred compound for use in the present 
invention is hereafter called compound A. 
The preparation of compounds of formula (I) can be effected according to 
any process described in International Patent Publications No. WO87/03781, 
WO93/06089 and WO94/21606, as well as in European Patent Publications 
numbers 0295117. 0403300. 0385809 and 0679650, German Patent Publication 
19511269 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,232,940 and 5,236,938. 
Cultivation of mushrooms is a process which may vary from country to 
country, but there are some general lines in common which are indicated 
thereafter. The "soil" where the mushrooms are growing comprises basically 
two parts, or two layers. The bottom layer is a layer which provides 
essentially the feeding substrate to the mushroom, and the upper layer, 
which is also called casing layer or covering layer, makes an isolation of 
this bottom layer from the atmosphere, even though it is not a total and 
tight isolation. 
The bottom layer is often made of a compost, which might comprise, for 
example, a wet fermented straw, optionally partially compressed so as to 
reach a density which might be somewhere in between 50 and 150 kg/m.sup.2, 
preferably 95 to 110 kg/m.sup.2. This bottom layer may be 3 to 50 cm thick 
preferably 10 to 25 cm thick. This bottom layer may be thus considered as 
a feeding layer for the mushrooms. Thus the words bottom layer or feeding 
layer or compost are practically designating the same thing. 
The covering layer comprises generally peat moss which might be mixed with 
various material, such as limestone, sugar beet residues, compost. The 
precise composition of this casing layer is not well defined and is part 
of the general knowledge of the mushroom farmers. This layer is deemed to 
be a protective layer as well as it is deemed to control or limit the gas 
exchanges with the atmosphere, even though its precise role may be not 
well determined. This casing layer is tinner than the bottom layer, and is 
generally a few centimetres thick, for example 1 to 10 cm, preferably 3 to 
7 cm thick. 
In the process of cultivating mushrooms, the bottom layer is generally 
inoculated with the mushrooms fungi or spawn (which is the vegetative 
stage of the fungus). This inoculation is also known as spawning 
operation. Then, in a first stage, the inoculated bottom layer, or feeding 
layer, is held at a warm temperature so as to have the fungi growing, but 
without having any appearance of a mushroom. This period of growing 
without a true and visible mushroom may be as long as 1 to 4 weeks. It may 
be shorter or longer; a 2 weeks period is generally proper. 
After that, the covering layer is laid down upon this bottom layer or 
feeding layer, and the mushroom may then appear and be harvested when 
deemed proper, the harvesting period May continue during several weeks. 
The cultivating method may, as already said, vary from place to place, 
according to the local practice, the specific mushrooms which are 
cultivated, the local conditions and the like. 
The methods of treatment of mushrooms by application of the insecticidally 
active material of formula (I) may be made at any time, either in (or on) 
the bottom layer or on (or in) the covering layer, or on the growing 
mushrooms. However, according to a particular feature of the instant 
invention, there has been found a method of cultivating mushrooms whereby 
the covering layer or casing layer which is used for the cultivation of 
the mushroom upon the bottom or feeding layer, is a layer which is 
impregnated with the active ingredient of formula (I). According a feature 
of the instant invention, this impregnated layer is made either by 
spraying the said layer after it has been laid down, or preferably the 
impregnated layer is made by mixing the ground material which normally 
constitutes the covering layer with a proper formulation of the compound 
of formula (I), and this mixture is laid down as a global covering layer. 
This method or process of the invention is particularly advantageous and 
particularly effective for several reasons: 
an even distribution of the compound of formula (I) is highly desirable, at 
least more desirable with those compounds than with other insecticides, 
the mushroom which is grown up is not put in direct contact with the 
insecticidally active material, so that the risk of improper residue in 
the food is minimised, 
the amount of insecticidally active material which has to be used is 
minimal and minimised, 
the risk of appearance of resistance to insecticide is minimised by 
elimination of any zone of unlethal amount of insecticide (this happened 
with organophosphorous compounds as well as with pyrethroids, at least in 
certain countries). 
Thus the invention is also directed to a method of cultivation of mushrooms 
whereby a single application or introduction of compound of formula (I) is 
made in the said covering or casing layer, and no further application of 
insecticide is made at any time up to the end of the harvesting 
nevertheless a good protection of the mushrooms is obtained. 
The precise effective amount of compound of formula (I) may vary rather 
much according to the intensity of infestation by pest or according to the 
specific species or conditions. However, the effective amount doses are 
often comprised in a range of from 1 to 300 mg of compound of formula (I) 
per kilogram of casing or covering layer, preferably in a range from 5 to 
150 mg/kg, and more preferably from 10 to 50 mg/kg. Another way to express 
these doses is that the effective amount is generally comprised in a range 
between 40 to 12000 mg of compound of formula (I) per square meter of 
cultivated area, preferably in a range from 200 to 6000 mg/m.sup.2, and 
still more preferably from 400 to 2000 mg/m.sup.2. 
The invention finally concerns the use of a compound of formula (I) in 
mushroom industry. 
The formulation which can be used for compounds of formula (I) may be all 
kinds, especially of suspensions, provided that the said compound is 
evenly distributed in the material. It is very convenient to have the 
casing or covering layer mixed with an aqueous suspension of said compound 
of formula (I). The prior art describes formulations of compounds of 
formula (I).

The following examples are given to illustrate the invention but should not 
be considered as limiting it. 
EXAMPLE 1 
A compost made of fermented straw is inoculated with grains of mushrooms 
spawn (Agaricus bisporus). The mixture is compressed so as to make a 15 cm 
thick layer of density 100 kg/m.sup.2. This mixture is held 2 weeks at 
25.degree. C. 
Flies (Lycoriella mali and Megasella halterata and Heteropeza pygmae and 
Mycophila barnesi) were released in the atmosphere surrounding the compost 
one day before the covering of the compost by mean of the covering layer 
as here after described. This corresponds to a severe infestation. 
Then a covering or casing layer is prepared by mixing a neutralised peat 
moss (neutralisation is made by mean of grounded limestone) with an 
aqueous suspension of compound A (125 litres of water for 3.2 g of said 
compound). This aqueous mixture is poured unto the neutralised peat moss 
in a mixing container, and the new mixture is applied or laid down as 
covering layer on the compost. This covering layer is about 5 cm thick so 
as to get 0.8 g/m.sup.2 of compound A. The mushrooms are harvested after 
15 to 18 days and harvest continues for 3 to 5 weeks. Results are observed 
visually: 
a small number of flies continue to breed in the compost no infestation is 
seen in the covering layer no damage is visible on the mushrooms no 
insects dwell in the mushrooms 
Similar experimentation was made without compound A. It ends up with large 
insect population breeding both in the casing layer and on the mushrooms 
so as to make them unfit for sales or consumption. Yield is anyway 
decreased by 10%. 
Similar experimentation was made with Dimilin and Diazinon as 
insecticidally active ingredient. Diazinon is neither effective on 
Sciaridae nor on Phoridae. Dimilin has poor activity on Cecidae (yield 
less than 50 % of the yield obtained with compound A). 
65 days after spawning, the Phoridae number is 10 times less with Compound 
A than with similar growing with chlorfenvinphos or tiflumuron. 
EXAMPLE 2 
Example 1 is repeated with double doses. Similar results are obtained with 
a slightly reduced yield (5 %).