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The farm has a strict pre- vention program against pests and diseases, consisting of continual hygiene inspections and a disinfection regime.
ong with initial attempts to supplement the mushrooms, the farm achieves 5kg per m2 of very good quality mushrooms in the fourth flush. This has led to the con- struction of additional growing rooms for the third and fourth flushes. The first new room is currently under construction. There is relatively little need for climate control, and there is a low picking intensity, so the trays can be moved from their current location to a new room with the same surface area, but able to hold more trays (up to 6). Growing a third and fourth flush requires different air movement and other air parameters. Better growing techniques are being developed for these flushes. Separating these flushes also helps limit disease and control pests in the rooms with the first and second flush, which are vital for farm production. This separation will be also very useful after the mushroom supplementation programme has been developed and introduced.
Trials Growing mushrooms in trays facilitates performing trials. One of these is testing Nutrigen products for sup- plementing mushrooms using casing soil and compost. The trials have been conducted for six months now and the conclusion is that mushrooms with constant access to supplements during the first two flushes keep their intense white colour throughout the picking period, keep their bulbous stem shape for long and are 20% heavier. This means that to achieve the same tray weight, 20% fewer mushrooms are needed. The mushrooms are heavier all through the picking period. When cut or broken, they produce a characteristic snap and grow slightly slower. The harvesting period amounts to 5-6 days. The yield was 36kg/m2 in three flushes, with the reten- tion of the characteristics stated above.
Adaption needed However, the trial setup required 2-3 times higher doses of supplement, which caused problems with
Production reaches 30-34 kg/m2.
controlling the compost temperature. A temperature of above 30 degrees Celsius resulted in compost overheating and involved some yield loss. The growing method therefore needs to be adapted, including incorporating the measures listed below: - using compost with a higher water absorption capa- city.
- using compact compost ensuring little compost return after it is placed in the tray.
- spraying the compost after casing with up to 40l/m2. The majority of water is sprayed within the first 48 hours, prior to the incubation phase.
- spreading of flushes. High compost activity, as well as the fast, considerable temperature reduction can cause water to appear on the casing soil surface and moisture on the mycelium which can lead to limited pinheading and slower pinhead development in the long run.
- keeping constant temperature difference of 2-3 de- grees Celsius throughout picking.
- more selective picking by leaving mushrooms that could continue to grow.
The supplement programme is in the implementa- tion phase. An alternative test being run is growing on 60m2 of phase III compost with a supplement that should allow yields of 30kg per m2 to be achieved in three flushes.◗
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