Spawning

At spawning, the technologist of a mushroom farm must undeviatingly execute two necessary conditions. Uniformly distribute the mycelium throughout the mass of compost and abide by the standards and requirements of sanitation and hygiene.

A uniform distribution of mycelium throughout the mass of compost is a guarantee for a uniform mycelium growth in the compost and measures that prevent over-heating of its separate areas.

The uniformity in mycelium distribution throughout the compost is achieved by many ways. For example, at using a machine to unload pasteurized compost from a pasteurization tunnel, mycelium is preliminary uniformly distributed on the whole surface of compost in the tunnel. As the compost is unloaded, the mycelium mixes with it. Also, with the help of an unloading machine, mycelium can be planted into the compost with the help of a special spawning bunker.

At planting the mycelium into the compost by hand the following rule must be used. As often as possible maintain the expenditure of mycelium and compost, and if an over-expenditure of a component happens, adjustments must be made in increasing or decreasing the expenditure of one of the components.

The importance of sanitation and hygiene at spawning cannot be overestimated. The infection of compost on this technological stage by pests and diseases, practically always leads to a serious crop loss. It’s especially dangerous when mycelium is grown in a mass, that is, while carrying out phase 3 in a tunnel. To escape this kind of mishaps on a mushroom farm, there is a program on sanitation and hygiene that includes the plan of various arrangements of technical and administrative sense that maintain the cleanliness on this farm. The manager’s goal is to demand strict abidance to the requirements of this program, beginning from himself.