GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

196
CROPPING CONTAINERS
Slanted Wall or "A" Frame
Culture
Slanted walls are constructed by stacking bags
of inoculated substrate to build sloped faces. An
advantage of the slanted wall is that a higher density
of fill can be achieved within a given growing
room space and harvesting is easier. A disadvantage
is that mushrooms are limited to forming on
only one plane- the outwardly exposed surface.
In comparison, blocks that are spaced apart give
rise to fruitings on 5 planes: the four sides andthe
top, a response seenespecially with Shiitake and
Oyster mushrooms.
Many cultivators find that a wall composed of
individually wrapped blocks limits cross-contamination
from infected units. Isolation of the
blocks, or for that matter any fruiting container,
has distinct advantages, both in terms of yield
enhancement and contamination containment.
Figure 160. Black Reishi, Ganoderma lucidum, fruiting
from wall formation of stacked bags.
Bag Culture
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In the search for inexpensive, portable, and
disposable containers, plastic bags have
became the logical choice. High temperaturetolerant
polypropylene bags are primarily used
for processing wood-based substrates which
require higher temperature treatment than the
cereal straws. Once cooled and inoculated, sterilized
substrates are usually filled directly into
heat sensitive polyethylene bags. Mushrooms
fruit from the top or sides.
For the cultivation of most wood decomposers,
a biodegradable, heat-tolerant, and
breathable plastic for bag culture is sorely
needed. "Cellophane", a wood cellulose-based
plastic-like material used commonly in the mid
1900's, has some of these features (heat tolerance,
gas porosity), but lacks durability. Despite
this shortfall, one of the most appealing aspects
Figure 161. A white Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus
ostreatus, fruiting from custom-made plastic
grid-frame.
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