Harvesting more than 40 kg/m2
I recently gave a training course to growers in Ireland and we also visited several mushroom farms. Some farms had high production, with one of them even aver- aging well above 40 kg/m2
of good quality,
white mushrooms last year, picked over three flushes. So what is the secret?
Compost Good compost quality is obviously an important condition for achieving these high yields. But although I believe good quality compost is produced often, the vast majority of nutrients are still in that compost at the end of the cropping cycle.
Casing soil It’s all about the casing. Casing soil doesn’t contain any nutrients; these nutrients have to be supplied by the compost. But the nutrients can only reach the mushroom in one way, and that’s through the casing. So the casing soil quality and how it is handled by growers have an immense impact on the end results, in terms of both mushroom quality and yield.
Evaporation The drier casing soil is, the more difficult it is for the water that transports the nutrients to reach the mushrooms. In fact, completely dehydrated casing even functions as a kind of insulation. Evaporation is essential to mushroom growing. But if the casing soil feels hard and dry this vital evaporation is much more difficult, and less water with nutrients is transported to the mushrooms. As a result, there will be a deficiency of nutrients and water and the individual mushrooms will mature faster and weigh less. The art is to ensure the casing stays soft and moist.
Where can it go wrong? Many growers use the heaviest possible casing soil. This heavy casing means a lot of CAC must be applied so cool down can start on day 6, or day 5, if the filling day is zero. And the result? Starting cool down already on day 6 makes it difficult to control the compost activity. The high compost temperature and copious CAC leads to excessive mycelium growth in the casing. Mycelium is hydrophobic, as is the casing. As a result, the casing becomes hard and dry after the first flush, and the subsequent second and third flush will be disappointing.
CULTIVATIONTIPS MUSHROOM SIGNALS ?
How can you keep casing soil in the right condition - i.e. soft and moist? Apply less CAC material, ruffle the surface on day 6 and start cool down on day 7. This will reduce the amount of mycelium in the casing. Cooling down one day later also gives a day longer to get compost activity under control. These two measures plus ruffling will make the casing soil structure lighter and airier. There will be fewer, but thicker, mycelium threads and 1.5-2 cm lumps of casing soil, that can absorb and release moisture well. Thicker mycelium also produces fewer pinheads so the room air temperature doesn’t need to be kept high to inhibit pinhead formation. As a result, the compost temperature will quickly drop to 24° C after cool down. The casing soil will not unnecessarily evaporate moisture
By Mark den Ouden
Applying a different growing strategy is one way to achieve good results. If you’d like to discuss this, why not join one of our courses!
as quickly and less mycelium will grow into the casing but instead it will grow upwards to the surface.
Result The casing soil stays soft and as the photo shows there are lots of lumps of casing that absorb and release moisture quickly. All of this is beneficial for the second and third flushes.
MUSHROOM BUSINESS 45
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