CULTIVATIONTIPS ADVISIE Attention for air ducts!
By Jos Hilkens
AdVisie “the mushroom growing consultants”, Herkenbosch
hilkens@mushroomconsulting.nl
The purpose of an air duct is distributing air as evenly as possible throughout the growing room. The number of ducts depends on factors including the growing room construction, how many shelves, how many beds and the size of the room. The aim is to achieve an identical air movement pattern over each bed to avoid diff erences in the growing room. It’s noble to aim for 100% uniformity, but very diffi cult to achieve in practice. There are always sections or beds with fewer mushrooms, earlier or later emergence of pinheads, or where mushrooms reach maturity faster. The diff erences within a single room are more obvious when the compost has low activity. In this case, air movement has a greater impact on evaporation and the extraction of waste substances. It’s best to optimise air distribution generally, as this will give benefi ts in every cycle. All the basics that growers can infl uence positively are often paid insuffi cient attention in practice. Examples include hanging the air ducts straight, replacing twisted ducts, repairing holes and replacing broken and missing airliners. Proper care of the air ducts will help reduce problems such as local scaling on mushrooms at the sides of the beds, fewer mushrooms at the front or rear of the rooms, mushrooms maturing too quickly etc. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that…..
Yes to moisture, no to wetness Mushroom mycelium likes to grow in a damp environment. In these conditions it pro-
By Con Hermans
AdVisie “the mushroom growing consultants”, Heythuysen
hermans@mushroomconsulting.nl
Photos: AdVisie
duces nice, fi rm, white mycelium thread. However, grain spawn and water are not a good mix, as conditions are created which encourage trichoderma infection. This can probably be traced to nutrients in the grain spawn which dissolve in water and form a medium which the trichoderma spores can easily thrive on. For this to happen, trichoderma spores obviously have to be present. Assume there is a fair chance of their presence as conditions are never 100% sterile so spores could potentially always be around, even if in extremely low concentrations. Competitor moulds lie in wait ready to attack. You sometimes see problems with trichoderma at the entrance to incubation tunnels. As incubation comes to an end, the remaining traces of spawn are emptied causing a thick layer of spawn on top of the compost. A patch like this is clearly more susceptible to trichoderma - on the one hand as condensation dripping from the ceiling builds up and on the other due to the higher temperatures that occur at this spot. Similar problems in blocks of inoculated compost often occur. Grain spawns moistened by condensation that are left lying on top of the composts are also more susceptible to infection by trichoderma. It is impossible to eradicate condensation altogether, but good temperature management, suffi cient perforation and opening the fi lm in time can help limit the extent of the problem. It is also important not to scatter extra grains of spawn on top of the blocks. If water is sprayed during inoculation it is a good idea to do this at a safe distance from where the spawn is dosed to avoid the spawn coming into contact with water.
(advertisement) Consulting for: the mushroom growing consultants
Jos Hilkens +31(0)653 31 6204
Composting 6 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
Disease control
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Con Hermans +31(0)653 29 9396
www.mushroomconsulting.nl
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