Chicken manure is an important raw material in mushroom compost and for the composter as it is the biggest source of nitrogen. It is therefore vital to keep the quality as consistent and as high as possible. However, the quality of chicken manure is unimportant for the farmer, for him it is a waste product. So make sure you always pay attention to the following points yourself.

Quality
Achieve the best quality with: - a nitrogen content (N) of 3.5 to 4%. The higher, the better; - a moisture content between 20 and 50%. The majority of composters work with dry chicken manure. The most suitable type is manure from broilers. This contains a higher percentage of actual manure compared to the rest of the constituents such as sawdust.

Regular supplier
One of the main aims of composting is to create homogenous compost: ensuring that you always supply growers with the same quality of spawnable or incubated compost. This process starts with selecting your suppliers, including the ones who provide you with chicken manure. Always work with the same chicken farmer, who keeps his birds in the same way. If you do not have a regular supplier, then you will have to compensate for the differences in the chicken manure.

Analysis is essential
Even if you do use a regular supplier, analysing the nitrogen and moisture content in the manure remains essential, even though the results of the analysis are usually the same readings. If the birds are sent to slaughter earlier or later than usual, there will be a direct influence on the nitrogen content. You won't see it visibly in the manure, but it will appear in the analysis. Using the wrong recipe to blend the compost has immediate and far-reaching consequences for your mushroom production. You won't be the first person to have two weeks of bad production….

Distribute well
Distributing the chicken manure over straw can only be done well once. The blending done afterwards will not compensate for any bad initial mixing. Every single blade of straw must come into contact with the manure. You must avoid any large lumps of chicken manure ending up in the compost.

The last month several growers had problems with a too heavy casing soil. It is normal for this time of the year for casing soil to be heavier because of rainfall on the peat fields. It takes a few weeks for the casing companies to sort this out and in the mean time the grower has to deal with this. A normal situation for this period. Complaining is not the way to deal with this but inter acting is possible.

The first thing to do is to recognize that the casing ís heavy. This can only be observed if good attention is given to the filling of the room. Always talk to the truck driver about compost and casing and you already know a lot. They know exactly what material they carry. If they say it is a heavy load and if water is coming out the first thing to do is to adjust the filling machine. Heavy casing soil packs more so it has to be opened up. The caccing spinner on the combine filling machine plays a big role in this. It has to pick up the compost and mix it well into the casing. Cac a bit more than normal if casing soil is heavy. The next step is to make the mixing spinner turn a bit slower. Too intensive mixing will destroy the structure and cause big problems in outgrow of the pins later on. The pressing roll should be adjusted that way that it does not close the holes in the casing. If you look at the roller from the side of the shelf, a little bit of light should be visible between roller and casing.

Then be careful with water on the first day. Make sure the caccing material starts growing. This can be seen by the attachment of the compost to the casing. Do not wait however till you really see the mycelium. Because then the time for watering can be too short. And mycelium will overgrow the casing. The normal amount of water can be given minus a few litres. (the water on day one). It is a good thing if watering gifts can be split into small doses. 1 litre at a time with intervals of at least 1 hour. Only on the first watering day (probably day 2 after filling) bigger gifts are possible.

The next thing that might happen is that the mycelium has difficulties growing to the surface. Remember, a heavy casing soil needs help to release water and CO2 so always make sure that fresh air is given to the room. A minimum of 5% fresh air most of the times helps a lot. If the mycelium has reached the surface generally the fructification is normal. The only difference is from day 7 to day 10 of the fructification. From that day 7, the pins might stagger in outgrow. At that moment again fresh air is needed to keep the evaporation going. A minimum of 5% might not be enough anymore. If you see pins but they do not grow out you have a few possibilities.
A drop of water as a shock. This means 0,5 litre of water and mild drying with heating and fresh air. Fan can be set up to 5% higher in speed.

Or you can drop the CO2 to about 1000 ppm for a day. But make sure that RH stays over 88% in this case.Overall the growing later on will be on a bit lower CO2 than normal to keep evaporation going. Watering as normal. The biggest mistake made is to keep rooms like this too dry. Be aware that the room might develop less pins than normal. Let them grow out and pay special attention to the picking. This way these rooms do not have to be any worse. On the contrary, often they are better (in a financial way) than normal.

Recently the gucchi mushroom has been given a geofgraphical indication (GI tag). The gucchi mushroom is the most expensive exotic mushroom in the world and grows in the Jammu and Kashmir Doda District in India. A geographical indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin. In order to function as a geographical indication, a sign must indicate that a product comes from a specific place. In addition the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product are due to the place of origin. The gucchi mushrooms cannot be grown commercially. They grow wild in the foothills of the Himalayas. They take months to gather them and they never grow in the same place. For these reasons, the gucchi mushrooms are very expensive. A kilo costs around 20,000 rupees, which is around 225 euros. The gucchi mushrooms are rich of vitamins, potassium, copper and vitamin D. Due to the many antioxidants, the gucchi mushroom can prevent health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.

We know the immune system is important for staying healthy, but what exactly is it and what can we do to support it?

The immune system is a complicated network of cells, tissues and organs in your body that protect against infection and disease. Given that there are so many pieces to the puzzle, there’s not one easy fix that can transform a weak immune system into a strong one in a snap of the fingers, but nutrition certainly plays an important role in its function.

Key Nutrients For Supporting Your Immune System
There are certain micronutrients in the foods we eat that play a key role in supporting the immune system1. An important step you can take for your immunity is to ensure you’re getting the recommended daily allowances2 of these nutrients. Find out how each of them serves your body and which foods you can find them in.

Mushroom Council has developed a "Feed your immune" system campaign, where they talke about nutrients in food and especially in mushrooms.
For the complete article, click here
Source: Mushroom Council

Today in the leading role: the King oyster mushroom, also known as Eryngii. This mushroom grows on sawdust substrate to which mycelium is added. As soon as the King Oyster mushrooms start to grow, the bags are opened so that they can fully develop. When they are fully grown, the mushrooms are harvested by hand. The King oyster mushroom does very well in the kitchen. And because of its source of fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals, this mushroom is a healthy addition to any dish and also a great substitute for meat ♥

Since May 2019, after it’s festive opening, the Lambert Spawn plant in The Netherlands is operative and has been supplying the European, Russian and Chinese market since then. Ies Hooglugt and his team have been improving and increasing the sales step by step.

On January 1st 2021 Guido Stevens joined the Lambert Spawn family. Guido Stevens will be responsible for the sales, customer service and other commercial activities. This will give Ies Hooglugt the chance to invest more time in the development of the company, new markets and innovations. Guido has worked for 4 years in the mushroom industry in positions within export and sales He is 27 years young, enthusiastic and full of new ideas; and brings a broad experience in sales, export, marketing and customer service to the table.

Lambert Spawn is market leader in Northern America and wants to increase it’s market share in Europe, Russia, Middle- and Far East. With their premium quality products they have been the mushroom growers resource since 1919, when Lambert Spawn was founded as America’s oldest independent spawn company. But; with the most modern spawn factory in the world.

Premium quality products and customer service are two important pillars of Lambert Spawn. Therefor Lambert Spawn will keep investing in both of these areas to bring even more additional service to their partners worldwide. Consultation and guidance in combination with premium quality spawn to reach the best yields will be the key.

For more information feel free to visit their website.
And you can also follow their Facebookpage.

Family business Mush Comb from Horst celebrates 25th anniversary

1 January 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the Horst-based company Mush Comb! What better time to shine the spotlight on this successful family-owned business!

Global leader

On New Year’s Day 1996, Jeu Holtermans started his own business - Mush Comb. In repairing and selling second-hand machines, he succeeded in identifying and filling a gap in the market for mushroom culture. In 2004, his 21-year-old son Bob joined the family business team, and in 2007 they decided to reinvent and refocus the business. Since then, the company has focused on producing new and innovative cutting-edge machines. The new business strategy demanded a major investment, but the benefits soon became apparent. The company’s revenues have quadrupled since 2007, and the family business has developed into a world leader in supplying innovative high-quality machines.

Please read their full article here.

We congratulate Mush Comb and wish them lots of succesful and innovating years to come!

Straw, horse manure and hay are the raw materials that have the most influence on the mushroom production process. Its structure affects the composting process. Its fibers (i.e. celluloses, hemicelluloses and lignin) are important carbon sources. The mycelium needs hemicelluloses and lignin for growth during the spawn run and case run phases (vegetative phase). In the so-called generative phase, from pin outgrow to mature mushrooms, celluloses and hemicelluloses are needed. Mushroom substrate has to undergo certain process steps. For the phase I composting process these are the so-called biological and chemical steps. During the phase II process the conversion of ammonia and the creation of selectivity make up the next step. During the phase III composting process the final step is mycelium development. Straw (or horse manure, hay) has a big impact on all these process steps.

Please read the full article on the website of ChampFood here

Article: by Geert Lemmers Composting Consultancy B.V.
Source: ChampFood