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CULTIVATION TIPS ADVISIE Forget the automatic pilot
By Con Hermans AdVisie “the mushroom growing consultants”, Heythuysen
hermans@mushroomconsulting.nl
Although initially the straw quality in West Europe seemed to be good this year, during fermentation it was disappointing and producing good compost is very difficult. This year, composters have continually had to struggle to find the right approach. Their first goal was more structure, but in the meantime the degree of fermentation has clearly become more important, however this goes hand in hand with a substantially lower moisture content. Cultivation is demanding, there is too little activity, mycelium growth is not spontaneous, the compost is sensitive. This presents growers with a constant challenge, and they often try to find solutions in the wrong places: switching casing soils and varieties, ruffling or not ruff- ling, adding more supplement, or checking the climate system again. They have lost sight of their regular strategy. And that is maybe the only positive point, as it’s impossible to apply a consistent strategy to this type of compost. Each growing room is different, flying on automa- tic pilot is impossible. So get out from behind the computer, take a look at what is going on in the growing room and respond accordingly. CO2 values and irrigation strategies used in the past are not sacred. If compost shows too little activity it is not producing enough CO2 so you have to open the fresh air inlet wide to create enough evaporation, and forget trying to grow using standard CO2 values. And don’t just activate the sprayer without thinking so it can finish its set program. This will make the situation worse. Dig down into the compost and assess the situation after each spraying cycle - every growing room is different! Total spray volumes of less than 15 litres when moistening a compost of 62% are more the rule than the exception. The compost is sensitive to water, it cannot process it, and too little moisture is evaporated from the compost so it becomes too soggy. Growing on compost that is better incubated (incubated longer) is just that little bit easier, but the average full grown compost that is supplied doesn’t have a higher pH for nothing. A winged word uttered by a grower is: ‘There’s nothing easier than not giving water for once’. I don’t always agree with that, but this time I fully support the idea!
Optimise the invisible Praktische doorlichting en advies bij:
By Jos Hilkens AdVisie ‘the mushroom growing consultants, Herkenbosch
hilkens@mushroomconsulting.nl
Compostering Photo’s: AdVisie Ziekten
There are usually more differences within a growing room than desirable. Errors made during filling still occur too often. Modifying the settings on the filling machine and paying good attention at filling can solve these disparities. Differences caused by less than optimal air movement are unfortunately also a too frequent problem. That’s a shame, as it usually impacts negatively on production and quality, and recurs repeatedly. Another familiar story: more quality problems on the upper bed, fewer mushrooms on the second bed, more mushrooms on the lower bed and along the edges dehydration, and discoloured or scaly mushrooms. During periods when the climate installation is used to cool or heat a lot, you will more frequently notice greater differences in the number of mushrooms at the front or back of the growing room. Time to critically examine the air movement - improvement is always possible. If you register harvest data such as production and quality per bed, these differences really become ap- parent. Differences up to 15% are not usually visible, and in practice under normal conditions there can be a difference of anything up to 30%. Time to call in the help of a specialist to optimise the performance of the growing room. Some changes will be noticeable immediately in the next growing cycle and with slight adjust- ments it may be necessary to register the data well in order to convert the improvements into terms of production, quality or money.
Jos Hilkens +31(0)653 31 6204
Luchtmeting
Con Hermans +31(0)653 29 9396
advertisement Consulting for:
Jos Hilkens +31(0)653 31 6204
Disease control Composting
Mushroom- growing
Con Hermans +31(0)653 29 9396
www.champignonadvies.nl
www.mushroomconsulting.nl
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