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 Bokonon
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Registered: 03/09/10
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 Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. 
#12316658 - 04/02/10 11:06 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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I'm currently costing up different ways of growing various strains of oyster mushroom. So far it seems like 6ft columns with approx 50kg (~120lb) of straw substrate is the best option for me.
There are a few points I'm having trouble with though.
Roughly how long does it take to harvest a column of each flush (costing for labor)?
A lot of people growing oysters on straw go for the "one flush and out" method, dumping spent straw outside for potential mushroom recovery and eventual composting. Do growers using 6ft columns find this is the best option?
My current farm plan revolves around using 40ft shipping containers as the grow rooms. I figure I can fit 4 straw columns per row with a walkway down the middle (container is 8ft wide) and 25 rows for 100 total straw columns in each grow room, using approximately 5 tonnes of wet substrate in each.
Are there any arguments for using smaller grow rooms and more of them? 40ft containers are the best value for money but 5 tonnes of substrate would be a lot to lose early in the business if contaminations wrecked one of my rooms.
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SOUTHERN
NAIL DRIVER
Registered: 03/29/09
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Re: Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. [Re: Bokonon]
#12317878 - 04/02/10 03:18 PM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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MAKE SURE U GOT ENOUGH ROOM TO WALK THROUGH THERE AND NOT BE KNOCKING OFF YOUR MUSHROOM.. I HAVE THAT TROUBLE NOW.. BUT I DON'T Walk though it i just reach in a 4x4 chamber but when everything is fruiting u gotta be careful not to give and elbow to a fruit. or its gone.sounds liek a good plan.. what r the columns? do u mean poly roll ? those things will be heavy if they r 10 inchs in diameter. i would say probley 50 to 60 pounds depending on substate and stuff. do u think that u can hang 5 tons from the top of this shipping container?
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RogerRabbit
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Re: Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. [Re: Bokonon]
#12319226 - 04/02/10 07:17 PM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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You'll get more product from two 3' logs than one 6' log. That's the way I'd go. In addition, vertical logs tend to lose moisture from the top to the bottom by gravity. This dries out the top and floods the bottom. You can ameliorate this problem by laying the columns flat rather than vertical.
I'm also using a 40 foot shipping container, buried in the ground.
RR
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SOUTHERN
NAIL DRIVER
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Re: Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. [Re: RogerRabbit]
#12320069 - 04/02/10 10:12 PM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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You'll get more product from two 3' logs than one 6' log. That's the way I'd go
U SAID IT AND IT WOULD WEIGH HALF AS MUCH..
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Buckeye Oysters
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Registered: 08/09/08
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Re: Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. [Re: SOUTHERN]
#12329742 - 04/04/10 04:51 PM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Place them in a zig zag pattern on blocks, this will let you have space to pick and mist with hose. Use one log (usually the shortest) as a top log suspended from the rafter with half its weight resting on a bottom log to keep the bottom in place. Use wedges of styrofoam to balance the bottom log. These logs were made with straw, shredded newspaper, and alfalfa. I am getting ~24lbs per column first flush blue oysters:
 
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Evolution is Lamarckism in disguise. Adaptation never creates a new species or trait, but rather the new species/trait always existed within the parent DNA until circumstances allowed it to be activated. For instance, every wolf has the DNA for poodles, but that DNA would never be revealed without man selectively breeding for it.
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Buckeye Oysters
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Re: Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. [Re: RogerRabbit]
#12330447 - 04/04/10 06:48 PM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
RogerRabbit said:
You'll get more product from two 3' logs than one 6' log. That's the way I'd go. In addition, vertical logs tend to lose moisture from the top to the bottom by gravity. This dries out the top and floods the bottom. You can ameliorate this problem by laying the columns flat rather than vertical.
RR
Your vertical lose moisture from the top RR because you do not pack them hard enough. I have been doing vertical logs for a long time and there is just as much fruiting at the top as bottom and the bottom never gets soaked.
Like your photo of the cubensis log that bruised when you pick up the ends and tried to transport it... If you pack the straw in super tight you can pick up a 3ft x 11" log by the ends, fully colonized, and the plastic will keep it stiff and strait enough that it will not bruise.
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Evolution is Lamarckism in disguise. Adaptation never creates a new species or trait, but rather the new species/trait always existed within the parent DNA until circumstances allowed it to be activated. For instance, every wolf has the DNA for poodles, but that DNA would never be revealed without man selectively breeding for it.
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Bokonon
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Posts: 124
Last seen: 11 years, 11 months
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Re: Anybody with experience of growing oysters on 6ft columns? Commercial grow questions. [Re: Buckeye Oysters]
#12347129 - 04/07/10 09:38 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for the input guys.
I've done some more costing and it's looking like it's going to be £3 per 6 foot column not including energy and labor or around £1.60 per 3 foot column (weighing ~50 and 25kg wet respectively).
I prefer the idea of using 3ft bags as it will allow me to do more of the work on my own without having to employ people to help me move stuff around.
I don't get much extreme variation in temperature where I live so I'm thinking of insulating the containers with slabs of polystyrene on the outside or maybe spray foam insulation.
RR: How/where do you fill your substrate into bags?
Most of the info I have read on growroom setup calls for a corridor or covered area linking the grow room to the bulk substrate prep room. This seems useful in inclement weather and to keep everywhere cleaner but would represent a large increase in build cost.
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