CULTIVATIONTIPS DELPHY
Routing process and cooling In the northern hemisphere, our thoughts are turning to summer and temperatures are
By Niek de Ligt, Delphy Mushrooms
Growing & Composting Consultant/Trainer
n.deligt@
delphy.nl
starting to rise at the work place. Freshly picked mushrooms are often left in the corridor and on farms that use tray systems even harvested in a separate room. Keep an eye on the post-harvest process. It’s important to take the mushrooms to the cool store more quickly and frequently than during cold weather. Cool temperatures are better for the general quality and increase shelf life. Carefully plan the route to the cold store to avoid unnecessary handling at the expense of time and quality. An easily accessible, centrally located cold store is essential. A good illustration of eff ective routing is a cold store with an infeed and outfeed side, which ensures the mushrooms always travel in one direction. This eliminates misunderstanding and encourages the principle of fi rst-in/fi rst-out. Moreover, you no longer have to keep rearran- ging the mushrooms in the cold store. Not every grower can use the most effi cient route – it all depends on the physical layout of the farm. Creating greater effi ciency is often impossible without a rigorous renovation on existing farms, but think it through well in expansion projects. Effi cient routing and good cooling facilities are essential every day on your farm.
Compost temperature
By Jan Gielen, Delphy Mushrooms
Climate & Energy Specialist
j.gielen@
delphy.nl
Photos: Delphy
Growers usually have two controls at their disposal to regulate the compost temperature: air temperature and fan speed (position). It is important to realise that these are indirect controls. Compost temperature is never regulated directly (only in systems with under-bed cooling and heating). How close the compost temperature actually is to the required value therefore depends on the settings selected for air temperature and fan speed. Measuring the compost temperature properly is obviously important; namely the core temperature. The sensor probe is usually inserted into the centre of compost via the edging plank. The photo shows a compost temperature sensor inserted just above the net – it will give an incorrect, too low reading!
The compost temperature is not equally important in each cultivation phase. During mycelium growth, the priority is clearly the compost temperature, but during cool down and pinheading, the growth process emerges on surface and the priority shifts from compost to air tempera- ture. In the outgrow phase, air temperature has the clear priority. During cultivation phases with a complete or partial focus on compost temperature, both the air temperature and fan speed can be automatically adjusted to maintain the compost temperature within the right bandwidth. Be aware that adjusting the air temperature only accounts for around 25% of the total heat exchange!
The majority of heat exchange (75%) occurs due to evaporation. Heat is required to evaporate moisture from the casing soil and compost. This heat is extracted from both media. As evaporation increases, the compost cools faster. This implies that the RH level in the growing room (despite the lack of a control-technical link) also infl uences the compost temperature. During periods where keeping the RH in the room at the required level is diffi cult – so it is too low (i.e. winter) – the compost temperature will also decrease and activity levels will be lost. The pinheads will also form deeper in the casing layer. The opposite eff ect is seen during periods where lowering the RH in the room is diffi cult (i.e. summer) - here too it reducing the compost temperature will also be a challenge. This illustrates that RH also infl uences the degree of control over the compost temperature and activity.
44 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
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