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flyontoast
Farming food; farming time


Registered: 08/20/16
Posts: 258
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Compostable + Biodegrable bags for cropping?
#23998216 - 01/10/17 01:17 PM (7 years, 20 days ago) |
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Wondering if anybody has ever used compostable + biodegradable bags. I saw Lipa once replied to a post where he grew Lion's Mane on straw by pasteurizing the straw and then stuffing it into dog poo bags (not sure if it they were the compostable type, can't find the thread again).
Most "compostable" bags do have petroleum/polyethylene in them and therefore don't actually compost into organic matter, they simply biodegrade into microscopic pieces. This is why some municipalities are pushing back against the use of these bags: they are contaminating the compost that the municipality wants to sell.
I found BioBags, which claim to be actually compostable, to the point where you can compost them in your own backyard. And most importantly for my purposes, they are made from non-GMO corn resin, meaning they should pass organic certification ("biodegradble plastic mulch" is not organic certified in Canada because it is made from GMO corn and it is not "compostable", as explained above). From what I can find, BioBags are made from the same Mater-Bi resin as this organic certified bioplastic mulch. That means I could just take the entire block and throw it in our farm compost and spread it on our organically certified vegetable fields.
It'd be too good to be true if I could pasteurize these bags with a steamer set-up, but I doubt they would survive. In which case, I could still use them as Lipa did, pasteurizing first and then stuffing (does that only work for straw, or has anybody done it with supp. HWP or SHP?). Or perhaps try adding a second bag once they come out of the steamer (bags are $0.14CAN each). I am also concerned that because they are advertised as breathable ("Very high penetration barrier against bacteria, viruses, spores and mold"), I'd have to humidify my incubation room if the sub dries out before pinning. The bags might also get digested by the myc before 2nd flush.
I ordered 25 bags (3 gallon) as a trial. If anybody has tried using compostable (or biodegradable) bags and have some tips, tricks, or horror stories, I'd love to hear them!
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My trade list Looking for strong terrestrial fruiters for an outdoor beds experiment: Agaricus Bitorquis, Agaricus Augustus, Agaricus blazei/subrufescens, Stropharia Rugoso-annulata, Clitocybe Nuda (blewits), and any species or other genus that you think work outdoors. Also, any commercially viable Pleurotus, cold or hot strains. Thanks for the Q&A, trades, and all the posters & teachers that have come before us
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Cwilli62
Stranger
Registered: 09/01/16
Posts: 7
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Re: Compostable + Biodegrable bags for cropping? [Re: flyontoast]
#24834606 - 12/08/17 06:48 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Do you have an update on your experiments?
I have been doing some research on compostable plastic bags being used in mushroom grows and have not yet found any answers. Your results would be very intriguing.
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Quadman
Challenged


Registered: 04/23/16
Posts: 2,529
Loc: IL
Last seen: 1 year, 3 months
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Re: Compostable + Biodegrable bags for cropping? [Re: Cwilli62]
#24834658 - 12/08/17 07:18 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Flyontoast hasn't posted anything since August.
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drake89
Mushroom Magnate



Registered: 06/26/11
Posts: 4,168
Loc: TN
Last seen: 4 years, 10 months
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Re: Compostable + Biodegrable bags for cropping? [Re: Quadman]
#24834715 - 12/08/17 08:11 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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That would be v cool if it worked. Some larger substrate factories that bag sterilized substrate pre mixed with spawn, use microporous bags. They're super cheap since you can buy it on a roll and make your own bags on a large scale. They make sealers that allow rolls to pass thru. Down side is that you need hepa filtered incubation space since the bags are semi permiable.
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flyontoast
Farming food; farming time


Registered: 08/20/16
Posts: 258
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Re: Compostable + Biodegrable bags for cropping? [Re: drake89]
#24850526 - 12/16/17 07:12 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Been busy, we moved to new land, expanding our veggies. I did order bio-bags. Didn't work, at least not their product. The bags had no strength. If you loaded it, with even 3lbs, they would stretch and tear. And if I used 2, it would just pancake out. So I tried using them as liners, but that didn't work either. The bag would decompose before myc had fully colonized, and but the time it fruited it was like there was no bag at all, defeating the point of a liner. I don't even know how biobags could work as actual compost bags, you'd have to empty the compost bin every day.
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My trade list Looking for strong terrestrial fruiters for an outdoor beds experiment: Agaricus Bitorquis, Agaricus Augustus, Agaricus blazei/subrufescens, Stropharia Rugoso-annulata, Clitocybe Nuda (blewits), and any species or other genus that you think work outdoors. Also, any commercially viable Pleurotus, cold or hot strains. Thanks for the Q&A, trades, and all the posters & teachers that have come before us
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