Where can I grow Mushrooms - Mushroom facilities & equipment

Mushrooms can grow either in vertical production units or in satellite production rooms-cabinets. Producers in vertical units are responsible for performing the entire procedure, from the substrate and spawn production to mushroom cultivation and harvesting. This method requires significant initial capital and specialized knowledge. The size of the unit occupies 4-7 acres or 1.5-3 hectares. In this area, we can find the substrate production room, the sterilization room, the incubation room, the fruiting room, the laboratory for spawn production and several analyzing procedures, the equipment room, and the main production areas.

The mushroom substrate production room

More specifically, an example of a substrate production room for Agaricus bisporus should have:

A storage room for straw, manure plaster, and other raw materials.
A room made of concrete where straw is mixed with water. In some cases, units also have a tank where producers collect rainwater.
A compost turner machine (static or mobile)
An indoor fermentation tunnel (15-30m x 4.0m) with thick walls and ceilings, with PVC tubes on the floor.
A room for the pasteurization tunnels.
Pasteurization tunnel 60-120m²(15-30m x 4m) made of 100mm thick polyurethane panel (for insulation). Internally, it is covered with 0.6mm of stainless steel with epoxy paint and externally with galvanized steel.
Pasteurizing tunnel equipment with air treatment units: air conditioning unit, centrifugal fans, filters, and others.
Special doors are made of polyurethane panels that can be opened mechanically.
A central electronic control panel with connection capability.

All the equipment required for these units is very contemporary and includes high-tech computer units that constantly control and regulate all the microenvironmental conditions inside the growing area. Air conditioning, humidity, and CO₂ regulators, fans, and light regulators are all connected to a central computer. The incubation room is a special chamber with walls of preparatory panels fully protected from external conditions and light. This stage’s temperature and humidity levels are at proper levels to promote the fungi’s vegetative stage. Once the mycelium has grown enough, the bags either stay in the same room under different conditions or are transferred to a second room (fruiting room), where temperature and humidity are different, to cause a sock to fungi and start their reproduction phase.

Mushroom production room (incubation /fruiting)

More specifically, an example of a production room (incubation /fruiting) should have:

Airtight rooms (chambers) of controlled environmental conditions of about 200m² each (an insulated plastic greenhouse facility can also be used for mushroom production).
The walls are usually made of thick polyurethane panels, with inner and outer surfaces of thick galvanized sheets and cement-concrete floor. They are usually painted with anti-corrosion paint for further protection.
All doors are insulated and made of the same ingredients as the walls.
The equipment includes aluminum or preservative-treated softwood shelves, movable trays, special nylon nets for support, platforms for collection, lamps for lighting (not necessary for button mushroom cultivation), temperature sensors, humidity sensors, air conditioning unit, heating, centrifugal fans, air mixing boxes, air openings with filters (no spores and insects should be able to pass), exhaust vents, CO₂ sensors, electronic conditions control panel connected to a central computer.

The unit also contains a lab with special equipment. In most cases, the laboratory staff consists of scientists (agriculturists).

Satellite units

By satellite units, we refer to those units that do not proceed with all production steps. Producers buy seeded substrate blocks from legitimate sellers and are ready for cultivation. This type of unit requires lower capital. Producers use common greenhouses in an area of 0.4-0.6 hectares. They cover the greenhouses with glass fiber or thick plastic to create a protected, insulated environment and use manual control and regulation of environmental conditions. Containers can also be used as growing cabinets.

Pleurotus mushroom production is more suitable for this type of cultivation as it is easier than Agaricus bisporus. The substrate preparation process is more straightforward. Less investment is required to construct straw chopping rooms (greenhouse-type covered with fiberglass). However, it also requires equipment for controlling the conditions inside the greenhouse.

Mushrooms, in most cases, are grown inside plastic bags or blocks. The blocks are put directly on the ground as they are larger. The sterilized and the seeded (inoculated) substrate is packed in sterilized bags that are then hung in levels inside the room or the greenhouse. In other cases, producers prefer to grow their mushrooms on wooden or metallic leveled beds covered in the substrate. The beds must also be sterilized before cultivation.

In some rare cases, producers do not produce their mushrooms indoors. Instead, they infect living trees with the corresponding fungi that can grow on such a substrate. By doing this, they are trying to copy the natural way of mushroom production. The advantages of this method can be many as well as disadvantages. First of all, this method is significantly cost-saving. No special equipment is required as the trunks naturally have stable inner conditions. Additionally, unlike indoor cultivation, this method gives constant yields for 2-4 years. Minimum effort is required as the tree does all the work, and when the trees begin to die, producers sell them for timber.

However, the disadvantages are numerous. First, this method is neither sustainable nor environmentally friendly since it promotes deforestation. Additionally, the producers should be careful not to produce mushrooms close to fruitful trees or other cultivations, as there is an increased risk of “infection” spread. Furthermore, to start growing mushrooms on a trunk, the producer should wait 8 to 14 months, which is substantial compared to 2 weeks needed indoors in some cases. And finally, not many mushroom species can grow on trunks.

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