CULTIVATIONTIPS DELPHY Adjusting the fan
Jan Gielen, Delphy Mushrooms Climate & Energy Specialist
j.gielen@
delphy.nl
Photo: Delphy
In mushroom growing, the fan creates air movement, the exchange between compost/casing soil and the room air, and, in combination with other compo- nents of the climate control unit, maintains the growing room climate. During pinheading and the pinhead outgrow phases, in particular, stable fan control is essential, as the air volume directly infl uences the evaporation levels. Unstable fan control often leads to unstable evaporation, and therefore lower quality. In practice, I regularly see situations where, during the critical phases of cultivation, the fan is still adjusted based on factors that are not relevant, or of limited importance, at that particular time. Depending on the brand of the climate control system, various functionalities are available to regulate the fan speed within a minimum and maximum setting. The three most common setting are: based on a too large compost temperature diff erence within the compost, a too high average compost temperature and on reaching the maximum (or threshold value) air inlet position.
- Increasing the fan speed based on too large diff erences in the compost temperature is mainly intended to reduce any internal temperature diff erences in the compost after fi lling. This sounds logical, but beware! Firstly, higher fan speeds impact negatively on good air distribution over the beds from the top to the bottom. At the highest fan speed, most of the air will be directed to the upper and lower beds, and considerably less to the beds in the middle. Plus, too large temperature diff erences in the compost can also occur in cold, i.e. more inactive, compost. In that case, high fan speeds are not what you want. It is better not to use this setting at all, or at most in the phase immediately after fi lling – provided you have active compost.
- Increasing the fan speed based on a too high average compost temperature is a form of control that does exactly what it should. As soon as the average compost temperature becomes too high, the fan speed will increase from the minimum setting to ensure more air exchange. This control can be used during all growing phases when controlling the compost temperature is a priority – i.e., from fi lling up to and including cooldown pinheading. As soon as the priority shifts to evaporation (pinheading and outgrow), stop using this control to avoid creating unstable evaporation.
- Increasing the fan speed when the maximum (or threshold value) air inlet position is reached. As soon as the air inlet reaches the maximum value (or a settable threshold value with certain systems), more fresh air can be used by increasing the fan speed from the minimum setting. This control can be used in all cultivation phases where regulating the air inlet position is acceptable.
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