CULTIVATIONTIPS ADVISIE Tackling scales
Scale formation is more common in winter months with cold and dry outside air than in summer
By Jos Hilkens AdVisie ‘the mushroom growing consultants’, Herkenbosch
hilkens@mushroomconsulting.nl
months. Damage to the surface tissue of the cap causes it to grow slower than the internal cap and scales develop. Scales can manifest from small numbers with a white appearance to high numbers with brown discolouration. This brown discoloration is caused by damage to the mushroom tissue. Enzymes then cause the brown discolouration. The initial signs of scales are often seen along the edges of the bed on the side where the air duct hangs. The air velocity is slightly higher here and the moisture content of the inlet air is lower. This causes too much evaporation and scales develop as a result. You can prevent or reduce this by using a lower fan speed, a higher RH or a smaller dif- ference between the absolute humidity of the inlet air and room air. If there is no humidification, increasing the CO2 content is also an option. Large fluctuations in the moisture content of the inlet air due to excessive heating or cooling of incoming air can also cause scales. Remedy this by setting a slower reaction speed in the climate computer controls. Adjustments to the liquid temperatures in the cooling and heating units can also help. When the mushrooms are sprayed, the growing room climate is seriously disrupted. Growers usu- ally start a drying programme: RH 2% lower, air temperature 1° Celsius higher and fan speed 10% higher. And this is where it often goes wrong. The mushrooms dry too quickly, resulting in slight scale formation and discolouration. It is often better to lower the fan speed by 10% instead of increasing it. The mushrooms have to grow dry as it were. There are also clear differences in sensitivity to scale formation between varieties and sometimes even within batches of the same variety.
Is there still a future for standard shelving systems?
By Jos Hilkens AdVisie ‘the mushroom growing consultants’, Herkenbosch
hilkens@mushroomconsulting.nl
Photos: AdVisie
In the Netherlands there are still about 50 farms that produce mushrooms for the fresh market. This number is set to decline in the future, although there are also opportunities. To date, growers of organic mushrooms have been the only ones willing to invest in new cultivation systems in the Netherlands because the margin is clearly better than with ‘conventional’ mushrooms. On average, many mushroom growers abroad achieve better margins per kilogram of mushrooms than in the Netherlands. Combined with problems in recruiting sufficient labour, they have to invest in new cultivation systems that offer more scope for automation. This is aimed at making mushroom farms future-proof and helping to reduce the cost price. Does this signal the end for the current growers with a standard shelving system in five years’ time? No, that is certainly not the case. Lower cost prices are by no means the decisive factor, as fixed costs are also rising significantly. And growers with standard shelving also have a range of options to further increase the picking performance. These include systems that indicate the right mushrooms to pick, automatic cutting and filling on the picking platform, transport belts or fingers along the shelves, picking robots in the beds. So there are plenty of opportunities to reduce labour costs and the number of pickers required - even without investing immediately in a new mushroom farm. And for some growers, niche products such as flats and portobello are also an interesting proposi- tion. Other alternatives are exotic mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms, eryngii or shiitake, mycelium for packaging materials or producing insects or worms.
de champignonteel tadviseurs Jos Hilkens
+31(0)653 31 6204
hilkens@champignonadvies.nl
(advert)
Con Hermans +31(0)653 29 9396
hermans@champignonadvies.nl
the mushroom growing consultants
Jos Hilkens +31(0)653 31 6204
hilkens@mushroomconsulting.nl
Con Hermans +31(0)653 29 9396
hermans@mushroomconsulting.nl
MUSHROOM BUSINESS 9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
