Lately I am getting a lot of phone calls again about cobweb disease. The growers see the first signs appearing at the end of the first flush and by the time the second flush is starting, the problem practically gets out of control. To beat the problem it is necessary to know where the disease is coming from and how it grows and spreads.

The cobweb mould is a soil born fungus, using a vector (taxi). The vector may be sand, dust, casing soil and all different materials used by the people on the farm. Think of brooms, shovels but also mushroom harvesting equipment. This way the spores of the fungus are transported. But the fungus does not have to reach the state of sporulation to be infectious. If the fungus is damaged is splitters like glass. Small particles of the fungus can regrow fast into a new patch of cobweb again. So only touching the fungus by hand or by watering is enough to spread it like wildfire. It grows best under warm and moist conditions. So to slow it down it will help to lower the RH in the room and to drop the temperature a bit. But it will not stop it.To stop it you will have to find the origin of the infection and stop that. Many of the infections I see at this moment seem to start during the first flush so I immediately look at the harvesting on the farm.

We make sure pickers change the gloves regularly and disinfect the knives every day. The clothes of the pickers have to be changed daily and we look at the logistics of the farm. No one is allowed to move backwards in the schedule. In other words, if you where in a second flush, never go back into the first. For the grower it means a lot of cloth changing. After every check of the rooms. On many farms it is also necessary to look at the handling of the trays. Testing showed that many of the multiple use trays are infected with moulds. Even trays that are claimed to be disinfected. An effective method is to make sure that multiple trays are staying in the room where they are used. So if they are left over after the first flush, leave them in that room and use them in the second flush. If trays are coming out of the room with a possible infection, store them separately. And not in a room with other packaging.

The best way is to carry out the disinfection yourself. Steam the incoming trays properly in a container or a room designed for steaming out. Preferably not in a cookout room because the trays will smell terribly after that. After cooking out one can use a swab test and an agar tray to see if the trays are clean enough to be allowed onto the farm.

So to eliminate this disease make a list of possible infection moments and go through the list one by one. Only this way, by taking out all possible infection points, the disease can be controlled. Because chemical control is almost impossible and most of the times not allowed. And if you see the disease it is already to late to do something. The only thing left at that moment is to cover it widespreaded with salt and to stop watering immediately. And then start eliminating it with all possible measures.

By Ray Samp, Agari Culture Mushroom Consulting Services

ChampFood International is a market leader in the worldwide mushroom industry. For that reason they are in contact with many renowned composters, mushroom growers and consultants.
Due to their international network they are familiar with the latest developments, trends and newly acquired knowledge.

Frequently they ask their international contacts to share their experiences and knowledge with them.
This time it’s Ray Samp’s turn. They asked Ray to share his thoughts regarding the differences between Dutch and US mushroom growing strategies.

Why do they do what they do?

Please read the full article here.
Source: ChampFood

In this article, you’re going to learn about reishi mushroom and how it can grow your hair. You’ll learn of the latest scientific research surrounding this ancient herb, and how you can get started reaping its benefits today.

First, I’ll introduce you to this 2000-year-old herb and its uses in Ancient China.

Second, I’ll dissect recent scientific studies surrounding reishi mushroom and its various properties to determine whether it’s an effective treatment pattern baldness.

Third, I’ll share with you three ways of supplementing with reishi, two of which are my very own hair growth recipes which I’ve personally used with great results.

What is Reishi Mushroom?

Regarded in Asia as the “herb of spiritual potency,” reishi mushroom has been in use for thousands of years alongside other herbs, like Fo Ti. It goes by many names, including lingzhi and G. Lucidum, and grows at the base of deciduous trees.

While wild varieties of this mushroom are rare, lingzhi is cultivated today on hardwood logs and woodchips.

The mushroom itself has a corky texture and is flat-topped. It typically has a red varnish and a kidney-shaped cap, and while other colors do occur, red reishi is the most well-known and studied.

With a variety of therapeutic uses, including immunomodulation and as an antioxidant, it is no wonder researchers have focused in on this versatile mushroom and studied it extensively.

But, the question this article will aim to answer is, “can reishi be used to treat alopecia?”

Please read the full article here.
Source: Hairguard

We welcome GROWTIME on board of Mushroom Matter! We are very pleased with this international player in the mushroom industry on our platform.
GROWTIME is a Polish based company who specializes in commercial mushroom farm equipment, especially mushroom picking lorries.
They have years of experience in the area of building machines to support production processes.
Most of their expertise has been gained while working on technical solutions to support industrial scale mushroom farming and harvesting.

Their flagship products help automate harvesting processes, while their full product range includes standard, off-the-shelf designs as well as machines tailored to individual requirements and dimensions.
Their quest for the optimal solution never stops, while balancing efficiency with durability of each of their products.

To learn more about GROWTIME, please visit their website here!

Since the beginning of June 2021 Lambert Spawn has obtained their Plant Breeders' Certificate for their new brown hybrid. After investing in a premium quality new brown hybrid. As Lambert Spawn brown strains always have been in the 8-series, they called their new brown hybrid LS818. It was first introduced on the US market, but for some time it is also being delivered to other parts of the American continents. The market for brown mushrooms has been dominated for quite some while now, so Lambert Spawn had to make sure they were able to compete on quality, consistency and speed during growing.
The market in Northern America accepted the new LS818 quickly and the production for this new brown hybrid was boosted in USA to make sure to meet this new demand. This fast growing demand of the LS818 was caused due its high and consistent quality, but also the time of growing fitted the growers very well. Until now the LS818 has been delivered on Speed Spawn and Millet for the North American market.

Since Lambert Spawn obtained their Plant Breeders' Certificate for the European market, they started with small scale testing with different farms in Europe so far. To see how it reacts to European compost within different countries. So far the results look good as we have seen in the US-market. Step by step Lambert Spawn in Europe will increase their capacity for the LS818 and work closely together with European mushroom farmers to get the best results out of this new strain.

Mush Comb announced before that in their 25th anniversary year they would introduce their own unique (covid-proof) celebrations.
One of the great ideas around this anniversary year is their headfilling machine made from LEGO!

Bob explains. “Our focus has always been on getting young people excited and on board of our industry. And even in these days LEGO is also extremely popular among adults.

The idea originated from my childhood. Relatives of ours owned a carrot farm and when my brother and I would stay over, we loved helping on the land during daytime and playing with tractors and other agricultural machinery toys until late in the evening.

I have great memories of that period, which resulted in creating these beautiful toys for the mushroom industry. After looking into various options, we found that using LEGO was the ideal way to make this possible.”

Do you also want to own a Lego headfiller?
Or even a Lego farm? That's possible!

To see how much interest there is in the sector to own a LEGO farm, Mush Comb is doing this inventory.
A great idea to give YOUR FARM as an unique Christmas gift to your family and/or to all harvesters, don't you agree!

If you are interested, please follow this link and let us know if you are interested!

Supercluster funding supports world first end-to-end robotic harvesting platform

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), the industry-led organization behind Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, has announced almost $4.2 million in collaborative funding for a multi-partner project, led by Mycionics, that will deploy advanced robotic solutions to revolutionize the mushroom harvesting processes.

Mycionics, in partnership with Whitecrest Mushrooms Ltd. and Piccioni Brothers Mushroom Farm Ltd. will deploy and demonstrate the commercial viability of the Mycionics robotic harvesting system. The Mycionics system will fully automate mushroom harvesting using novel advanced robotics and automation. The entire harvesting process will be optimized through the application of data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Mycionics will be the first company in the world to successfully automate the end-to-end mushroom harvesting process for the fresh market.

“This is exactly the type of project we aim to support through the Innovation Superclusters Initiative,” said the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “Leading-edge Canadian companies like Mycionics promote Canadian solutions to global problems. This project pushes technological boundaries, develops advanced manufacturing and creates good jobs for Canadians while exporting groundbreaking technology to the world.”

As a complete system, Mycionics robotic harvester will increase the yield of a growing room through a “smart graze harvesting” strategy, picking over a 24-hour period and allowing the system to pick each mushroom at the optimal time instead of being restricted to harvesting only during normal working hours. Additionally, the ability to harvest robotically and the use of data analytics will increase food safety, traceability and disease detection.

As Mycionics grows and develops as a company, they will create numerous high-tech jobs in rural communities in Canada and around the world. The company is poised to see significant growth as they begin servicing farms throughout North America and Europe.

“This project serves to highlight exactly what NGen hopes to achieve through its supercluster project funding,” said Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen. “The Mycionics project brings together multiple partners from different sectors of the economy to develop and build a world class advanced manufacturing solution. In the process, Mycionics will create jobs, establish a Canadian supply chain for machine parts and assembly, help build out the entire advanced manufacturing ecosystem, and have a lasting and positive impact on Canadians and the economy.”

“Our partnership with NGen will accelerate commercialization of Mycionics patented robotic mushroom harvesting to solve the increasing labour shortage affecting mushroom farms globally. Mycionics robotics were designed to simply integrate with existing mushroom farm infrastructure commonly used throughout the world.” Michael Curry, CEO, Mycionics.

This is one of many projects funded by NGen through Canada’s Innovation Supercluster Initiative. NGen is investing $192 million of Supercluster funding and is aiming to leverage at least another $358 million of industry investments in collaborative industry-led projects before the end of March 2023 to facilitate collaboration and accelerate the implementation, scale-up, and commercialization of advanced technologies for manufacturing in Canada.

About NGen - Next Generation Manufacturing Canada
NGen is the industry-led not-for-profit organization that leads Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. Its mandate is to help build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities in Canada for the benefit of Canadians. NGen works to strengthen collaboration among its membership of more than 3,500 manufacturers, technology companies, innovation centres, and researchers, and provides funding and business support to industry-led initiatives that aim to develop, apply, or scale-up transformative manufacturing solutions in Canada for commercialization in global markets.

About Mycionics
Mycionics is dedicated to empowering mushroom farmers through the use of our robotic harvesting system that performs the labour-intensive work of harvesting mushrooms for the fresh market. Our solution provides mushroom farms of any size with a competitive edge against the global labour shortage afflicting the industry.

Mycionics’ globally patented robotic harvesting system continually picks, packs, and weighs mushrooms that meet fresh market quality and size requirements. Based on the farmer’s harvesting requirements, such as desired mushroom sizes, stem length, quality, harvesting schedule, and more, our mobile robotic harvester scans the mushroom beds, picks the desired mushrooms, trims the stems, and intelligently packs the mushrooms into boxes where they can be retrieved by the farm operators. In addition to our system’s harvesting capabilities, the data collection provides valuable insight into the farms existing growing and harvesting metrics, leading to better agronomic, commercial, and operational solutions for the farm.

Source: Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen)