With a flush with limited spread picking selectively on the first harvesting day can help encourage a better spread. Try not to remove all the spread of mushrooms in the very first day. If the flush shows less spread individual mushrooms often grow faster, so it’s essential to ensure they are well positioned on the first picking day.
Pickers shouldn’t pick all the large mushrooms but selectively remove the smaller ones. Isolated mushrooms or small groups of mushrooms with good rounded caps and relatively thick stems can be left on the beds In this type of group it’s better to pick a few of the smaller fruits. The larger mushrooms left on the bed will slightly delay the development of the smaller ones and create more spread. Picking repeatedly in the coming days is the best way to keep mushroom quality on the beds good.
It’s important to repeat pick the beds at least once in the mornings. If you get behind with harvesting it’s difficult to reach a good picking performance and growers quickly risk losing quite a few percent of quality 1 mushrooms.
Jos Hilkens, AdVisie 'The mushroom cultivation consultants’
hilkens@champignonadvies.nl
