If a farm has been built for bag growing or to take spawnable compost on shelving, it’s not possible to switch to working with incubated compost on Dutch shelves just like that. A number of changes must be made first to guarantee mushroom quality and production.
– Per square metre of growing surface, 23 cubic metres of air have to be blown out by the climate installation.
– Per 100 square metres growing surface there must be an outlet opening (over pressure) of 0.5 square metres.
– The cooling installation must have sufficient capacity to cope with the often higher level of incubated compost activity.
– In warm conditions the growing room should be cooled before it is filled with incubated compost.
– Doors must be closed as soon as possible after filling.
– Expect the compost temperature to rise after filling; don’t wait until the compost is already warm before activating the cooling. Different to spawnable compost, incubated compost can rise sharply in temperature within the space of 24 hours!
– With low outside temperatures, outside air can be used for cooling in the first 48 to 72 hours.
John Peeters, C point