INDIA
Well colonised compost, 12 days after spawning. Drops of “whisky” on the mycelium. This is a good sign.
The small growing room doors on the right where filling and casing is done. This is the part of the farm that’s not on poles.
The laboratory where the compost is analysed. A view of the work corridor.
Coir-pith, a by-product of coconut production, is the main raw material in the casing soil.
A growing room during casing. All the bags contain the same amount of compost. The blue barrels hold the casing that will be applied to the compost later.
Spawn, multiplied by ten The strains used are Sylvan A15, F599 from Ital- Spawn and Heirloom from Amycel. The spawn is multiplied once in the spawn lab in a ratio of one to ten to make ten litres from one litre of spawn. This approach helps cut the costs. Compared to all the other costs, spawn is relatively reasonable in price. However, on this farm, which operates at a very low cost relative to growers in the West, the price of spawn is much higher. Multiplying spawn entails a considerable risk. Each time mycelium is multiplied there is a risk of degene- ration which only becomes visible when the mushrooms start to emerge and grow about four
32 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
weeks after spawning. This method makes the spawn much cheaper, but also has a considerable element of uncertainly.
Mycelium growth After about 12 days, the compost is covered with casing soil. As the photo shows, the compost has been colonised well by the mycelium. You can also see nice, brown drops of “whisky” forming on the mycelium. This indicates a good moisture content in the compost. Many of you might think that 12 days is fast. The big difference with this bag system compared with spawn run of compost in a tunnel is that the compost remains in the bag.
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