Pleurotus eryngii in the growing room.
the compost is really dry (58 – 60%) the mushrooms often mature faster at the end of the flush according to Arthur. 70% of the water sprayed during the preparatory phase is applied in the first 48 hours, usually 4 l/m2
Nameko developing first flush. tion in grams per m2 per hour. Three litres of . In the last two
days, water is sprayed to steer the amount of mycelium and maintain an optimal moisture content in the casing to encourage strong myce- lium. During the recovery period, they try to increase the air temperature to 22oC if compost activity permits. The recovery period usually lasts between 30 and 36 hours. At the start of cool down, the air temperature is reduced to 20oC and maintained at this level for five days. It is reduced to 19oC on the sixth day and kept at this tempera- ture until they have a good idea of how many pin- heads are developing. When the temperature is reduced, and how quickly, depends on the num- ber of pinheads on the bed and the increase in size. If there are not enough pinheads, the air temperature is reduced to 16oC to encourage more pinhead formation. The air temperature is incre- ased to 17oC before the first flush. This tempera- ture is maintained until the third day of picking. It is then set to 17.5-18oC to encourage a rise in the compost temperature and evaporation. At the start of cool down, the RH is 95-97%, before rea- ching 89-90% on day five or six of cool down. The fan speed at cool down is 50-70% depending on the compost temperature. It reduced to 45% at the moment the compost temperature drops below 25oC.
At the end of the first flush, between 8-10 l/m2 of water is sprayed in six hours. Higher evaporation is achieved for a period of 12 hours by setting the fan speed to between 55-60% and the RH to 80%. Afterwards, circulation is set to 50% and RH to 85%, while the air temperature is maintained at 19oC for the first two days before being reduced to 17.5oC. The speed of the decrease depends on the number of mushrooms and the growth rate. RH in the second flush varies between 75-85% and depends on the measured or calculated evapora-
water/m2 is sprayed on the first day of harvest in the second flush to improve the moisture balance in the casing. But according to Arthur, this is only possible if there is sufficient evaporation.
Brown mushrooms
A six-week cropping cycle is used for brown mushrooms, harvesting three flushes in six gro- wing rooms. The CNC compost is filled on Fri- days, working towards a filling weight of 95 kg/ m2. The high filling weight has a particularly positive effect on production, and on quality in the second and third flushes. At this filling weight, good cooling capacity and air circulation is vital to control the compost temperature. This building has a central duct system with cooling in the growing rooms. The fact that the shelving is only four beds high is a slight advantage, as the air/bed ratio is higher than in a standard growing room.
For the brown mushrooms, a lighter type of casing soil from Euroveen is used: type Euromix 80/20. The main reason for using this type is to avoid patches of foam developing. The combina- tion of a heavier type casing soil and the Heirloom variety with low compost activity will severely inhibit exchange and leads to a higher risk of these foam patches. In Arthur's experience as it is also easier to spray water onto brown mushrooms, a lighter casing will not dry out too much in the first flush. The brown mushrooms are sprayed with an almost identical amount as the white mushrooms in the preparatory phase, but in this case, water is given for a day longer. It does take a little more effort to encourage enough pinheads to form with brown mushrooms. The average line followed by the air temperature is about 1oC lower than with white mushrooms. The same applies with the final flush of mushrooms. During the flushes, the air temperature in the growing room is about 0.5 to 1oC lower. On the first harvest day of the first flush, about 4 l/ m2
is MUSHROOM BUSINESS 25 Ambition is to
keep the supply chain between producer and consumer as
short as possible.
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