13


some producers will also have to travel further to access peat. Supplies in the North German peat bogs have not yet been exhausted, but the likelihood that new permits will be issued to excavate these peat- lands is slight. This will mean looking to alternative sources such as Ireland, Poland or the Baltic states. The current trend is still to use heavy, coarse peat on phase III compost. Casing soil suppliers in the Netherlands work with modern mixing lines and produce a great number of different blends, tailored to suit the buyers, in Europe or overseas. From the moment that half the world switched to using intermediate hybrid strains, cultivation techni- ques have no longer changed significantly. Ruffling after 4-5 days into mycelium growth is a noticeable trend, despite the fact that modern head-filling machines can perform all the necessary prepara- tions during filling. Ruffling at this stage serves to improve quality, consistency and a slightly higher


yield. The biggest changes in mushroom growing in West-Europe in recent years have been prompted by the market. The percentage of brown mushrooms is still rising sharply, approaching 20% in Germany, and the ceiling is not yet in sight. Growing them is far more productive than in the past thanks to the latest hybrid brown strains, which give a yield and consis- tent quality that is approaching the performance of white varieties. Selective harvesting has gained a real foothold in the sector. All the large, modern manual picking farms apply this practice in one way or another. The high picking costs in West-Europe have resulted in the development of new concepts for farms. For instance, a small number of farms currently use only one tier of shelving so that nothing interferes with picking, and in order to easily integrate further automation. The advantages are lower harvesting costs and a clear overview for the manager; the disadvantages are mainly the investment costs. A Dutch project is currently being trialled to study the advantages and feasibility of bed cooling. The huge advantage of bed cooling, whereby cold water flows through hoses or pipes underneath the com- post, is easier control of the compost temperature with a higher air temperature. This encourages in- credibly fast colonisation by the mycelium, and cool down can often start sooner too. A 4 week schedule with 2 flushes is perfectly possible. An expected outcome, however, was identical yields using less compost, which proved not to be true. Trials using a modified amount of supplement are still running. On the positive side, more compost can be filled without creating any problems with the temperature. This gives a higher yield per m2, with much better quality.


Team Kania with Wojciech Konieczny second from left and Kasia Bieniecka of Mushroom Business far right.


Discussion and conclusion During the branch discussion, the panel and the


Team Spyra poses with relations in their stand (l to r): Szymon Spyra (Spyra plant owner), Piotr Spyra (senior Spyra plant owner, R&D), prof. dr hab. Marek Siwulski (scientific consultant of Spyra), Michał Kominiak (C.O.O. of Mykogen Polska Compost Yard), Bar- tosz Skipor Rybacki (Consultant of Spyra for Europe and the Middle East), Sławek Szkop (Unikost Com- post), Sławek Ogórek (Fungi Compost), Arkadiusz Świergosz (Spyra plant, Logis- tics), Andrzej Guzek (Unikost Compost), Emil Głuchowski (Spyra Customer Ser- vice Manager), Adri- anna Wojda (Spyra Customer Service).


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