CULTIVATIONTIPS ADVISIE A clear view


Practically all climate units on mushroom farms and tunnel companies have an inspection hatch. These hatches are often quite small, awkward to open, or diffi cult to reach. In fact, you wonder if and when they are even used at all. Usually they are only opened after the computer has signalled a problem that you fail to fi nd an obvious cause for. So you wonder whether the climate installation is working properly, and if it’s time to look at the inside of the unit. On inspection, you might come across some unexpected surprises, such as: You see water as soon as the inspection hatch is opened. If the condensation outlet has become blocked by compost, the water cannot drain away – the result is a unit fi lled with water; which is why the fan has been having problems running properly! Or the heat sink is full of compost so that hardly any air can pass, which is why for some inexplicable reason it is impossible to reduce the compost temperature. Air inlets that get stuck, or fail to open or close, mean the temperature cannot be regulated. Or fi lters that have exploded will cause infection in the compost.


By Con Hermans


AdVisie “the mushroom growing consultants”, Heythuysen hermans@mushroomconsulting.nl


The purpose of inspection hatches is to be able to identify and resolve this type of problem in time. But the larger the company, the less time is often spent on inspecting the inside of each climate unit. And one of the reasons is the time it takes to open and close all the inspection hatches.


One tunnel company has come up with an inventive solution that I think could be the answer for many others. No inspection hatches, but a sight glass window you can look through. Check the units one by one, shine a torch through the glass and you can see straight away if everything is OK on the inside.


Graze picking


The graze picking strategy off ers multiple advantages. The three main ones are: greater uniformity of the grades, better quality and higher production. With standard picking lorries, graze picking usually implies harvesting twice a day, and sometimes three times on peak days. If automatically driven lorries are used, then the beds are generally harvested up to four times a day.


By Jos Hilkens


AdVisie “the mushroom growing consultants”, Herkenbosch hilkens@mushroomconsulting.nl


Photos: AdVisie


Some growers have teething troubles with the pickers when the graze picking system is introduced. The pickers don’t follow up instructions, remove too many mushrooms from the beds and take too many punnets onto the lorry as they are still harvesting too many diff erent grades. Giving clear instructions about the purpose of graze picking, allowing just two types of punnet on the lorry and frequently supervising and inspecting progress can make all the diff erence. A rewards/penalty system can act as an extra incentive. Once pickers have got used to the system, they will never want to work another way again. They have far less sorting to do, and that simplifi es picking. Growers who use graze picking have clearly greater uniformity in the grades. That might not be what the market always wants, but it presents the mushrooms better and that is positive for sales. It is important to inform the pickers when they start in the mornings what size they are expected to pick in the fi rst pass and in which type of punnet. Once the beds in the growing room have been cleared after two to three hours, the remaining mushrooms literally have more space to breathe as air can fl ow more freely. The CO2 content between the mushrooms will drop and evaporation improves, so they mature slower, develop shorter stems and have a few more hours to grow – all positive boosts for production and quality.


(advertisement) Consulting for: the mushroom growing consultants


Jos Hilkens +31(0)653 31 6204


Composting 6 MUSHROOM BUSINESS


Disease control


Mushroom picking


Con Hermans +31(0)653 29 9396


www.mushroomconsulting.nl


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