16—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 27, 1971 Mushrooms, a Rapid Growth Industry (Continued from Page 14) removed the beds must be scrubbed Then the house is steamed. This is done by filling the house with live steam from a portable boiler, raising the temperature to at least 180 degrees for about eight hours to kill all germs To this steam ten gallons of for maldehyde is added for a double house If you have to hire this done, it costs $8 an hour The walls, floor, bed boards and ventilators are sprayed with an insecticide to prevent the growth of insects which could damage the crop The house is left closed a week to 10 days then is opened for a week to 10 days before filling In late summer you might have observed huge piles of horse manure or a synthetic compost pile outside the mushroom houses A synthetic compost is made of hay, chopped corn cobs and chemicals Either type of compost must be turned and watered on the wharf several times In this way, it is broken down by the bacterial organisms present and is both chemically and physically conditioned for the growth of mushrooms This composting process requires from one to four weeks, depending upon the material used and the rate decomposition Filling is usually done in September The beds are filled with the compost to a depth of five or six inches This is very heavy work After the compost has been placed on the beds, it must go through a pasteurization period before the spawn is planted This is known as the “sweat out” or “cook out” during which time the house is tightly closed, except that all the doors are opened at intervals to admit a fresh supply of oxygen The heat generated by the bacterial action in the compost, in combination with the moisture, causes the temperature to rise and resulting pasteurization brings about a final conditioning of the compost, as well as killing off any insects or molds which may have come into the house in the filling process If the temperature does not go high enough, disease organisms are not killed If the temperature goes too high, the chemical make-up of the compost is changed and a poor crop of mushrooms will result Ther mometers placed in the beds at various levels must be checked frequently, since the air tem perature in the house is no in dication of the compost tem perature A uniform compost tem perature of 140 degrees F. is considered sufficient to kill the pests and molds which could injure the mushroom crop. To be certain of attaining this tem perature, artificial heat is often added to the compost heat as it approaches its peak and this temperature is maintained for 24 hours This process takes eight days Planting When pasteurization is com pleted, the house is allowed to cool to about 70 to 72 degrees before the spawn is planted Planting is done by broadcasting the mo culated gram or other spawn earner which is produced at a spawn laboratory This is planted two inches deep The mycelium then grows out into the compost m whitish gray threads During this spawn-running period, the temperature must be maintained at not more than 75 degrees and the beds must not be allowed to dry out, nor to become soggy Two and a half weeks are Vs Leavin Jackson's two double mushroom houses, with sprayer setting on the wharf in front. required for the mycelium to grow through the compost. While the mycelium will grow in the compost, it will not develop into the fruiting stage and produce mushrooms until a thin layer of soil has been placed on top of the compost This soil should have a pH of between 5 5 and 8.0 and can be determined by taking samples to the spawn laboratory for testing If the pH is below 6 5, lime is added. This tends to neutralize the acidity and aids in preventing green molds which can reduce the crop yield Casing soil must be sieved, then sterilized on the wharf Sterilizing is done by heating the soil to 180 degrees with live steam This is done to kill nematodes and insects which may be in the soil and would cause diseases After sterilization has been completed, the soil is stored in a bin or on a concrete wharf and covered with canvas or plastic to prevent recontamination About one inch of soil is placed on the surface of the compost in the beds and leveled off This is called “casing ” Again, there must be constant attention to watering, temperature and ventilation. Leavin Jackson is steaming this mushroom house, in preparation for a new crop. After the mushrooms begin to appear—about two and a half weeks after casing—the tem perature should be kept around 58 to 60 degrees A temperature of 56 degrees will produce thicker mushrooms, but in many respects is not as ideal as 60 degree temperature. If the temperature goes too low, chance of disease is greater Mushrooms produce for about six months, so you get two crops a year if you have air-conditioning in the house. Mushroom Industry So rapidly has the mushroom industry grown that in Penn sylvania alone the annual mushroom crop provides more farm income than the state’s entire fruit crop or the state’s entire vegetable crop Production and sales have risen from 75 million to 170 million pounds in the past 10 years, one of the fastest growth rates in the nation’s agricultural economy Chester County, known as the world center of mushroom production, has over 500 producers. Berks County, around Temple, produces quite a few. Lancaster County has several producers, mostly in the southern section, bordering Chester County. There are some produced in California, Florida, Pacific Northwest, Hudson River Valley, in the New England states and regions around St. Louis, Kansas City, Ohio and Southern Michigan. A different method of handling mushrooms is practiced at West Winfield, in Western Penn sylvania, where instead of raising them in houses they are raised in caves from which limestone was formerly mined by a steel company. Here, as well as at some other large plants in various parts of the country, a system of movable trays takes the place of the conventional stationary beds so that filling, spawning and casing can be done by mechanical means. At West Winfield almost the only manual labor involved is the picking and packing of the fresh mushrooms. 1? Because the caves maintain a year-round temperature of ap proximately 56 degrees F., special rooms are maintained for the “sweat-out” and spawn growing which must take place at siq Dutchman. ■ A MMfeN Of lU. HMMI Mb “CHIK-EZE” Hinged bottom model Chik-Eze includes egg tray which can be put into use at 10 weeks. This feature will actually permit birds to be kept in the start/grow cage at full laying age if necessary. It also eli minates problems of egg gathering and egg breakage if circumstances delay movement of pullets to grow/lay or permanent lay cages, and it takes care of eggs from birds that lay permaturely. The lowered floor provides a 2 inch gap for eggs to roll out onto tray. THE ALL NEW FLAT DECK CHIK-EZE PULLET REARING CAGE . . . offers durability, economy, performance and practical labor saving features that increase management efficiency. The heart of the system is the Big Dutchman chain and trough feeder providing 96 inches of feeding space per cage. There is full availability of all the feed to all the birds. All feed is automatically recirculated and remixed, result ing in better feed consumption. Extra feed capacity makes high density of birds per cage row practical and manageable. BIG DUTCHMAN A Division of U.S. Industries, Inc. EASTERN BRANCH 215 Diller Ave., New Holland, Pa. 17557 Ph. 354-5168 higher temperatures. It is thus possible to produce mushrooms the entire year in the caves by replacing the trays every 50 days. Production here runs as high as eight to ten tons per day throughout the year. Earliest commercial production of mushrooms in this country was in the vicinity of New York City and Long Island about 1880. They were grown on the floors of cellars and caves, but this wasn’t too satisfactory. In 1885, William Swayne of Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania, tried growing mushrooms beneath the benches in his greenhouse. This was anything but satisfactory, so in 1896 he built the first houses in the area to be used exclusively for growing mushrooms. From this beginning this section in Chester County became known as the mushroom capital of the United States The United States acre yield for wheat has doubled since 1930, from 14 to 28 bushels.
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