post, and additional cooling with dry ice or water ice may be needed. Pre-cooling the growing rooms at the farm can sometimes be just enough to keep check of the compost temperature later on. Immediately after filling, the compost temperature increases to above 27 degrees Celsius, and on many farms this is the point when controlling the temperature becomes difficult. The opposite situation, delivering compost that is too cold, is not ideal either for growers with short cropping cycles. The longer preparation time this demands means the grower loses a few days at the end of the cycle. It is important that the composter and the grower discuss which compost temperature is desirable before delivery.
Pre-loading
To coordinate the planning schedules at the tunnel company and on the farm, incubated compost in bulk is sometimes loaded onto the lorry in advance. A short time on the lorry is not problematic, but the load shouldn’t be left for too long. Compost is a living product and therefore needs oxygen. In the confines of a lorry the oxygen is quickly used up. This oxygen deficiency has a negative effect on compost quality. The length of time that compost can safely be pre- loaded depends on aspects including compost activity, moisture content and the outdoor temperature. Compost that has been left on the lorry for too long will smell slightly acidic when unloaded, while compost stored on the lorry for a little too long will show a sharp
temperature rise immediately after filling in response to the oxygen deficiency. If it has been loaded for much too long, however, no mycelium activity will occur during the first days after filling. It is almost as if the mycelium has been poisoned. So, preferably avoid pre-loading.
Hygiene
The transport equipment, filling machine, compost floor and the growing room to be filled must all be disinfected and the area where filling activities are taking place must also be clean. Hygiene measures are not just aimed at preventing bubble spores. Well-incubated compost may be less sensitive to infection, but that does not mean it is insensitive! Competitor moulds such as trichoderma agressivum can also affect incubated compost. The drop in production may not be as disas- trous as that caused by infection at inoculation, but the consequences can still be considerable.
Uniformity
There must also be sufficient uniformity between the individual beds, as this is the only way to achieve optimal management and get maximum production. This obviously applies more for mechanical harvesting farms than for farms that pick manually. The larger the room, the more difficult – and the more vital – a high degree of uniformity is. In the past, a standard room had a growing surface area of 200m2
which could easily be filled by the contents of one lorry. Now there are
Compost being output by the chain with a volume of 25 cm should not be compressed too much more by the pressure rollers.
The blocks at the bottom on this pallet will be compacted by the other blocks on top.
MUSHROOM BUSINESS 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
