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 Feelgood
Stranger
Registered: 09/16/10
Posts: 4
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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 North FL Commercial Oyster Grow
#13204095 - 09/16/10 11:11 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Hello, I've cultivated various gourmet mushrooms (Shiitake, pink oyster) over the past few years with success (only thanks to you wonderful Shroomery members and Paul Stamets), but I would like to move into a small commercial production farm for distribution in North FL. Iv checked with all the local organic markets / health food stores / etc. and found that there is NO supply of Oysters in the area, and even the Shiitakes and the like come from other states or Asian countries.
I will be focusing on Oyster mushroom production mainly, with a small additional automated indoor greenhouse to cater to more finicky strains like Hericium erinaceus. I am planning to sell 5lb flats in bulk and have no plans of individually packaging my mushrooms for direct sale to the public. My first order of business is to keep everything 100% legal and by the books. I have heard that in most cases, agricultural zoning is the only preface to having a small farm. I live in a small town outside of a large city and have a large private backyard that's suitable for building a greenhouse, but I'm definitely not in an extremely rural area. I have located the closest USDA Organic inspector and will be contacting them for certification after the farm is up and running. I would like to be producing about 25-50 pounds(wet) of Oysters per week. I've consulted various threads extensively ( 1 and 2 ) and acquired quite a bit of knowledge from them, but I have a few questions that I would greatly appreciate being answered if anyone has the proper knowledge:  RR, Cryogenicz, Jeremy Davis
-What strain of Oyster would be most appropriate for the outdoor climate here in north FL?
-Where/Who do I need to contact to make sure that I will be operating completely within the law and am zoned / licensed / etc. to be doing so?
-Do I need to collect taxes/keep records for all my sales?
-Is insurance necessary?
-Based on the info above and my geographical location, would buying pre-colonized spawn be a wise decision? (Shooting for 100% BE, I'm guessing I would need about 1LB spawn for a 10LB bag of straw, so 5LB of spawn per week [I think  ])
Thanks so much for anyone who takes the time to read this! There's so much to take in I'm sure I've forgotten something so please, constructive criticism is welcome  I'm very excited about this new venture and cant wait to hear some advice from you guys.
Edited by Feelgood (09/16/10 12:30 PM)
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 Not Quite Social
Back to work
 
Registered: 07/15/10
Posts: 879
Loc: Midwest
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 Re: North FL Commercial Oyster Grow [Re: Feelgood]
#13204379 - 09/16/10 12:10 PM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Good luck, Feelgood! I hope some of our resident experts weigh in--sorry, I'm not one of them. I do have a question for you (or, if you're not sure, anyone else's best guess): how much income do you think you'll have from 25 to 50 pounds of oysters per week?
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Feelgood
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Registered: 09/16/10
Posts: 4
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Quote:
Not Quite Social said:
Good luck, Feelgood! I hope some of our resident experts weigh in--sorry, I'm not one of them. I do have a question for you (or, if you're not sure, anyone else's best guess): how much income do you think you'll have from 25 to 50 pounds of oysters per week?
Well I'm planning on it taking a while to get off the ground, so I don't plan on profiting too much at all for the first six months. I'm hoping that the income it does generate will be sufficient enough to cover all the expenses for the business to operate; extra profits will be diverted to expansion. Factoring in inevitable failures and unforeseen problems, I'm looking to gross roughly $300-$750/month in this first "phase". Thanks!
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure
Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 36,969
Loc: USA Mountain Northwest
Last seen: 7 hours, 12 minutes
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Re: North FL Commercial Oyster Grow [Re: Feelgood]
#13206580 - 09/16/10 07:38 PM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
I'm looking to gross roughly $300-$750/month in this first "phase".
You're going to be looking at around $3/pound for wholesale oysters, and less if you sell to a distributor. I'd try to ramp up production a bit to make enough to be worthwhile.
If you're growing outdoors, I think only pink oysters will tolerate the heat, but aside from being pretty, they're not very good tasting, so may not have much market acceptance.
Have you seen my below-ground mushroom farm? Even on 95F days, it stays 60F inside, which is perfect for shiitake and oyster. It will cost more to set up, but you might want to use the ground to control temperature, or you'll spend a fortune on AC and not be able to make any money.
RR
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www.mushroomvideos.com
semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat
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Niwita
Village Idiot
Registered: 04/30/10
Posts: 4,040
Loc: Under a Rock
Last seen: 8 months, 29 days
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Re: North FL Commercial Oyster Grow [Re: RogerRabbit]
#13208313 - 09/17/10 05:35 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
If you're growing outdoors, I think only pink oysters will tolerate the heat, but aside from being pretty, they're not very good tasting, so may not have much market acceptance.
Pleurotus djamor & Pleurotus eous are the two pink oysters I know of. P. eous is apparently not common at all in the US. I'm in India and have a 1L bag of G1 spawn, I'll be saving a good amount of it to bring home. Apparently one strain has gotten up to six flushes... https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/3118/1/ft02023.pdf
India's climate is relatively comparable to Florida's. If you're working with them in the winter you probably want white oysters.
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Feelgood
Stranger
Registered: 09/16/10
Posts: 4
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: North FL Commercial Oyster Grow [Re: RogerRabbit]
#13208340 - 09/17/10 05:55 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
RogerRabbit said:
Quote:
I'm looking to gross roughly $300-$750/month in this first "phase".
You're going to be looking at around $3/pound for wholesale oysters, and less if you sell to a distributor. I'd try to ramp up production a bit to make enough to be worthwhile.
If you're growing outdoors, I think only pink oysters will tolerate the heat, but aside from being pretty, they're not very good tasting, so may not have much market acceptance.
Have you seen my below-ground mushroom farm? Even on 95F days, it stays 60F inside, which is perfect for shiitake and oyster. It will cost more to set up, but you might want to use the ground to control temperature, or you'll spend a fortune on AC and not be able to make any money.
RR
Thanks so much for the reality check on pricing Its a bit less than I was originally thinking, but not too far off. The climate here is usually around 80/40 at the high and low end respectively. There's a few months (June/July/August) that are a bit hotter and probably wouldn't favor Oyster growth, but I thought that there would be some strain that can thrive in that environment (Besides pink). I learned a great deal from watching your videos at a friends house who bought your DVD set, and I have drooled over pictures of your farm many many times It would be my dream to have an operation in a place like that, but for now I'm stuck here in FL where we cant build anything more than a few feet below ground because of sea level. Thanks for the input!
Edited by Feelgood (09/17/10 06:08 AM)
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Mycelio
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Registered: 06/24/08
Posts: 1,420
Loc: Berlin, Germany
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Re: North FL Commercial Oyster Grow [Re: Feelgood]
#13208539 - 09/17/10 07:39 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Feelgood said:
... I would like to be producing about 25-50 pounds(wet) of Oysters per week.
...
(Shooting for 100% BE, I'm guessing I would need about 1LB spawn for a 10LB bag of straw, so 5LB of spawn per week [I think ])
Keep in mind that 5LB spawn and 45 LB straw would be the dry weight. Wet weight will be around 15LB and 180LB.
Quote:
Feelgood said:
-Based on the info above and my geographical location, would buying pre-colonized spawn be a wise decision?
Yes, until you are sure you can create your own in sufficient quantities and with lower costs.
Quote:
Feelgood said:
-What strain of Oyster would be most appropriate for the outdoor climate here in north FL?
Look into hybrid strains of P. ostreatus. There are several, which tolerate a wide range of temperatures. Also there is P. ostreatus var. florida. You should also grow P. pulmonarius, especially P. pulmonarius var. sajor-caju is a high yielding heat tolerant strain with high quality fruitbodies. And not to forget the white oyster aka elm oyster.
In my opinion the pink oysters are not as bad as RR describes them. If harvested early, before they get flat, thin and leathery, they won't smell fishy. After giving samples to friends and neighbors, people start asking me when I will have some again.
I'd recommend to test several strains and species and keep on growing those who perform best.
Carsten
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure
Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 36,969
Loc: USA Mountain Northwest
Last seen: 7 hours, 12 minutes
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Re: North FL Commercial Oyster Grow [Re: Feelgood]
#13208556 - 09/17/10 07:46 AM (1 year, 8 months ago) |
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I've been thinking. . .You could take a shipping container like I buried in the ground, mount it above ground and cover it with bales of straw. I calculate about 100 bales would completely surround a 40' shipping container on all five sides. That should provide adequate insulation to at least cut down on cooling bills. The costs of such an operation are probably why the lead-infested chinese imports have the shiitake market in your area. Finding a way to use engineering to defeat mother nature in a cost effective way is the key to success. Get on it!
Do you have city water where you're at or a water well? The reason I ask is that a few hundred feet of copper tubing circulating water, spiraled around the interior of the shipping container, could probably lower the temperature to that of ground water, around 55F.
Once you get that figured out, I'd go with shiitake which is much better tasting, has longer shelf life and commands a higher price than oysters. I get $5/pound to distributors and $6/pound when I sell direct to grocery stores.
RR
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www.mushroomvideos.com
semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat
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