Floor humidity
If you want to maintain a natural climate in the growing room during the recovery period until about five days after ventilation you should water the floor and walls of the growing room. Do this at intervals of between one and six hours. You will notice the result as a shock effect in the graph displaying the RH and growing room temperature. I will explain what is actually happening and how to avoid a shock effect.

The effects of floor humidity
If you stand in the growing room while the watering system is wetting the floors and walls you will see several things happening. The watering system contains nozzles which moisten the floors and walls with water droplets and it also creates tiny, airborne droplets of water. If you shine a torch you will see the little water droplets floating in the air. Eventually the droplets fall onto the beds and the sensors of the climate computer. This has two disadvantages:

1. Climate disruption
The water droplets which fall on the sensors are cold. They disrupt the climate, which causes a response from the computer. The effect is minimal but your aim is to keep the climate as constant as possible. This uses the least energy.

2. Abnormalities
The water droplets fall on the beds where the mycelium is recovering. These water droplets disrupt pinning, resulting in cluster-shaped abnormalities which develop before the first flush.

How can you prevent this?
Make sure that there is sufficient water pressure (see photo) while the floors and walls are being wetted. In this way you prevent the droplets from floating in the air. In addition, make sure that the whole floor is wet. This approach means that the floors dry out less quickly, ensuring that the climate in the growing room is more uniform and favourable for growth.

Mark den Ouden

Next courses:
Live training Mushroom Signals Essentials: 12 – 16 October 2020
The e-learning course offers the theorical knowledge of the Mushroom Signals book that is necessary for the live training sessions. During live training, all participants have the same basic knowledge, so there is plenty of time to deal with individual questions. This is not only valuable for the participant but sharing knowledge between the trainer and the other participants makes the theory more relevant. The everyday practice at the composting facility and the mushroom farm of the participants will also be discussed.
Other courses in 2020: 30 November – 4 December 2020.

Always available:
E-course Mushroom Signals Essentials

More info about the course see www.mushroomoffice.com

Many times when I see growing operations I got questions on how to get improvements and many times it always comes back to the way the room is filled. When at filling there is not enough knowledge or attention to details it will affect the rest of the growing cycle. Lets highlight some of those details.

The amount of caccing is very important to get an even growth of the mycelium into all the room but is not so easy as it sounds. Only when the compost layer comes perfectly even out of the head filling machine before the casing falls on top it is possible to get the job done with the first spinner on the machine, the spinner that is used to get caccing in the casing and spread the casing evenly. In many occasions I don’t see the even compost layer and therefore we have to go back to the other side of the machine to see what is causing the problem. It can be an uneven supply of the compost, the swivel belt timing or not enough and uneven compression. Makes sure to solve that before setting the caccing depth. Also, make sure to get an even amount of supply into the casing hopper, if not too much casing will get pushed through on moments cause more casing on those spots, so an uneven caccing there. Depending on the structure of the casing and the desired structure you can adjust the speed of the spinner to get the right result.

After the first spinner there is the next spinner with the purpose of leveling the casing. Depending on the structure of the casing adjust the speed again and make sure to set the spinner not too deep. When that spinner goes to deep and there will built up more casing behind the spinner what will happen is that it will throw casing over the spinner causing an uneven casing layer. The casing layer should have the right and even level required after the spinner before it goes under the press at the end.

Use the press for the final touch, press the casing slightly at the end of the machine, just enough to push down the last loose casing on the top but not so much that it causes anaerobic spots on top. If the level is not good enough with the 2nd spinner, the press will press too much casing and just causing anaerobic spots of casing on top of the beds where no mycelium will grow in. Minimize that as much as possible.

Setting the machine in the morning is very important. I would always start the machine on the 2nd shelf, set it up as required and try not to change too much during the rest of the room. The most critical in that is to set the right compost height in the morning to avoid too many changes. Of course we always need to adjust if necessary but make sure then to minimize the changes and if you have to adjust, adjust all the settings. A change of compost height might change the compost press, height of the spinners and casing press roll. In practice that gets forgotten and causing a different fill after the compost height is changed.

A good filling is a head start of every growing room. I just highlighted a few details that need attention but there are many more of course. It’s not so easy to get the room filled exactly as required but good training and of course good equipment will get the job done and make the rest of the cycle easier to get the maximum result.

Erik de Groot
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Monks and agriculture. It is a sweet combination and a lesson on sustainability.

In Gasa rabdey, the monks, their robed folded high up, are preparing mushroom cultivation. Fifteen monks even underwent a two-day training on fungiculture.

The training, Umzey Tshering Dhendup said, came after the agriculture officials came to enquire if the monks would be interested in growing their own food.

“After Covid-19, we had to think about the importance of agriculture,” he said. “Monks also need such skills.”

Gasa dratshang spends about Nu 70,000 to buy vegetables every month. The expenditure is covered from the stipends the monks receive. From Nu 1,400 that each monk receives, Nu 1,000 is set aside to procure vegetables.

In a corner of the dratshang’s storehouse are 60 bags of oyster mushroom seeds. In five weeks, the dratshang can harvest at least 60kg mushroom.

A kg of oyster mushroom sells for Nu 200 in market.

For the full article, click here

On June 29, in mushroom base managed by Yanjun Farm Co., LTD, Black fungi are in harvest period, growers are orderly engaged with picking, sorting and drying work.

“Over the years, relying on favorable resource endowment and ecological conditions, we utilize sawdusts of broad-leaved trees to grow Black fungus. And, by now, we have realized ecological management from spawn cultivation, bag hanging to cultivation management, picking and drying,” introduces manager of Yanjun Farm Co., LTD warmly, adding that Black fungi produced in the base are intact in appearance, crisp in flavor, abundant in nutrition and they are well-received by consumers in America, Canada, Korea and Japan.

Mushrooms may accompany other fruits and veggies in the produce aisle, but they’re grown very differently than other plants we eat. There are no fields or forests. No tilling of soil or sowing of seeds. Sunshine isn’t even necessary to grow the nutritious fungi.

Instead, rows and stacks of mushroom-growing beds are lined up in large climate-controlled buildings. They’re kept indoors so they can be grown year-round in optimal environmental conditions. To learn more about the intricacies of growing high-quality mushrooms, we chatted with someone who grows them herself.

Sonya Beltran grows white mushrooms with her family at First Generation Farms in southeastern Pennsylvania. Her dad got started in the industry almost 40 years ago, so she grew up around mushroom farming. Later in life, she joined him at the family business and is now the director of operations. Sonya, along with her dad, mom and best friend, oversee the farm’s operations, while about 70 team members help them care for and harvest mushrooms.

Please read the full article here.

At the last board meeting of the Bund deutscher Champignon und Kulturpilzanbauer e.V. (BDC) two new members of the association were confirmed. Monaghan Pilze GmbH and Mushroom Park GmbH joined this year. In the telephone meeting on May 5, 2020, the board and advisory board members made it clear that one can only meet the future with solidarity in German mushroom cultivation. The mushroom farms have many challenges to overcome. Last but not least, the corona pandemic has shown how important an association can be in order to effectively reflect interests and concerns in politics.

Please read the full article here.

On June 23, in Ganoderma Base located in Naxu Village, Heng County, Guangxi Province of China, the first batch of Ganoderma are entering into harvest phase, growers are busy with picking and sorting.

“After the drying, the estimated weight of this batch of Ganoderma could reach 60 kg, to calculate by the present market price of 600 CNY per kg, this batch of dried Ganoderma is expected to generate over 36,000 CNY of economy for our village, and it is quite considerable,” introduces clerk of Naxu Village warmly, adding that next step, he plans to expand the cultivation scale to over 20 mu, lift the market competitiveness by enhancing the management of the base and lifting the cultivation technology of Ganoderma.

On June 16, walking into mushroom base located in Pingzhuang Town, Cengong County, Guizhou Province of China, Agrocybe cylindracea are entering into picking time, growers are busy with picking, sorting and packing.

“Agrocybe cylindracea grow fast in rainy weather, and they occur again at night after they are picked in the morning, daily output on fresh Agrocybe cylindracea reaches 2000 kg,” said Mr. Ding Defen, vice-general manager of Guizhou Qiangu Mushroom Co., LTD passionately, adding that by the end of 2020, the company’s expected annual mushroom output value could come to over 10 million CNY.