GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

464 DESIGNiNG AND BUILDING A SPAWN LABORATORY
take into account prevailing wind direction,
sunlight exposure, shade, the positioning of the
wetting or compost slabs, the location of the
bulk substrate storage, and the overall flow patterns
of raw materials and finished goods.
The major problem with having a laboratory
within a home is the kitchen —a primary
breeding ground for contamination. Rotting
fruits, food spoiling in the refrigerator, and garbage
containers represent a triple-barrelled
threat to the laboratory's integrity with the air
and the cultivator as carrier vectors. However,
good sterile technique coupled with the use of
HEPA filters, can make a home laboratory
quite functional for the small and mid-size cultivator.
Most importantly, the cultivator must
have a heightened awareness of his/her path
through the sources of contamination before
attempting sterile tissue culture. I prefer to do
my laboratory work in the mornings after
showering and putting on newly washed
clothes. Once the lab work is completed, the
packaging and growing rooms can be entered
by the laboratory personnel. Otherwise, these
areas should be strictly off-limits. In a mushroom
facility, duties must be clearly allocated
to each person. If you are working alone, extra
attention to detail is critical to prevent crosscontamination.
Design Criteria for A Spawn
Laboratory
The design criteria for constructing a spawn
laboratory is not complicated. A short description
of my lab might help the reader understand
why it works so well. My laboratory is housed
in a 1440 sq. ft. building. A 15 HP boiler is located
in its own room and generates steam for
the 54 in. diameter, 10 ft. long, double door retort.
The walls and ceilings are covered with
FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastic). The lights are
Figure 387. floor plan of a mushroom spawn laboratory.
Most of the substrate enters the clean room
through the autoclave (mid-way left.) Spawn is exported
from laboratory to the growing rooms.
Spawn is rotated frequently out of the laboratory.
covered with waterproof, dust-proof lenses.
Plug-ins for the remote vacuum system are
handy and well used. To enter, you must pass
through three doors before reaching the clean
room. In the clean room, a 2 ft. high by 12 ft.
long home-made laminar flow bench gives me
ample freedom of hand movement and surface
area. (See Figure 72.) Fresh, outside air is serially
filtered and positive-pressurizes the lab
from overhead through a coarse pre-filter, an
electrostatic, and finally a 24 x 24 HEPA filter.
A return duct, recycling the room's air should
be on the floor but, I admit, is not. By locating
the return duct low in the laboratory, contaminants
are constantly being pushed to and
skimmed off the floor. My laminar flow
bench—with its massive surface area—recir-
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