Industrial growing white button mushroom- 2nd flush problem.

Greetings,

I work on a mushroom farm as a Supervisor of microclimate conditions. Weekly we fill 2 rooms, each 60-65t of compost and we use casing soil from Holland BVB. And we have a problem with 2nd flush. I know and I have data that rooms are designed for 2 racks not for 4 as we have today. Is it possible that 65t of compost + 40 tons of casing soil is too much for the room and the system(Fancom) can't make proper ventilation, also is it possible that the picker can ruin 2nd flush during the picking because I noticed that after 2nd or 3rd days of picking they left a lot of fallen mushrooms, roots, parts of stamps...And the problem of watering, my opinion is that if we have a small structure of compost pressed on a small area with high kg/m2 can cause that system cant dry enough. We usually give 20-25l/m2 before starting cooling, and just before 1st flush we give 5-6l/m2 and after 1st flush, preparing for cleaning also we give 5-7l/m2(depending, sometimes we give less). The problem showed after we started filling each room with 65-67 tons on an 800 m2 area( recks). After 1st flush on the 2nd one, we have a lot of diseases( my opinion is that also pickers can cause this with bad sanitation). When I gather these three factors watering, picking, and mass of compost per m2 I don't know what we doing wrong. My opinion is that too much compost is also the problem, a high mass of compost needs a lot more power to cool or heat and exchange the air, also pickers can be picked the wrong one, without leaving the chance to grow and be heavier, and also they do not clean after the picked, they just leave it there and this is potential diseases. Amount of water,, also its the problem, we can't give too much or too less. It's hard to decide if you have the first 2 problems.
Any advice on how to solve this problem?

Best regards
Nick

Nick Aragva wrote:Greetings,

I work on a mushroom farm as a Supervisor of microclimate conditions. Weekly we fill 2 rooms, each 60-65t of compost and we use casing soil from Holland BVB. And we have a problem with 2nd flush. I know and I have data that rooms are designed for 2 racks not for 4 as we have today. Is it possible that 65t of compost + 40 tons of casing soil is too much for the room and the system(Fancom) can't make proper ventilation, also is it possible that the picker can ruin 2nd flush during the picking because I noticed that after 2nd or 3rd days of picking they left a lot of fallen mushrooms, roots, parts of stamps...And the problem of watering, my opinion is that if we have a small structure of compost pressed on a small area with high kg/m2 can cause that system cant dry enough. We usually give 20-25l/m2 before starting cooling, and just before 1st flush we give 5-6l/m2 and after 1st flush, preparing for cleaning also we give 5-7l/m2(depending, sometimes we give less). The problem showed after we started filling each room with 65-67 tons on an 800 m2 area( recks). After 1st flush on the 2nd one, we have a lot of diseases( my opinion is that also pickers can cause this with bad sanitation). When I gather these three factors watering, picking, and mass of compost per m2 I don't know what we doing wrong. My opinion is that too much compost is also the problem, a high mass of compost needs a lot more power to cool or heat and exchange the air, also pickers can be picked the wrong one, without leaving the chance to grow and be heavier, and also they do not clean after the picked, they just leave it there and this is potential diseases. Amount of water,, also its the problem, we can't give too much or too less. It's hard to decide if you have the first 2 problems.
Any advice on how to solve this problem?

Best regards
Nick

Nick, I too worked at a mushroom farm. A farm that has been in operation for 30 years. They started with button and cremini.
If you like, message me and I will give you the contact information for the owners. They love to help people.
It is Hidden Valley Mushroom Farm in Wisconsin Dells WI. I learned many things working there in that short time.
good luck!