₦airaland Forum

Ibenuel:
please I'm interested in learning it, contact me on08064224654

Is this your whatsapp number?

jose718:
Do you have any free shade or room to use for growing out the mushrooms.

[Yeah I do have a free room]

Ok then. We can begin practicals...

zabson:
Please do you supply to the north? Kano precisely.

Yes I do. You can chat me up privately. Thank you.

Munzy14:
Nice thread bro..
I need spawns, how do i get it. currently in owerri now.

Alright. Our spawn will be ready in 10-12 days from now.
You can reach me on 07011356705.

Escoffier:
You might use some chemicals such like quicklime to do the sterilization.

Yeah, but quicklime does not sterilize everything. Even if it kills some organisms, it will not harm spores. Also, quicklime is not effective for sawdust substrate.

However, it is a good material when dealing with straw, grasses and the rest.

MikeBetty:
Boss, Do You Produce Usu, Or Ero Usu? It Is A Kind Of Mushroom That Is Ground Together With Melon. If Yes, Did You Get The Spawn And What Is The Process Of Preparation Of The Substrate? Ur Humble Student.

No, I've heard of it, but seen it yet. If I get my hands on it, I am sure I can try to cultivate it. Any idea how it can be gotten?

jose718:
Interesting!!! please I'm in Ogun state and I need the spawns .

Do you have any free shade or room to use for growing out the mushrooms.

jose718:
Interesting!!! please I'm in Ogun state and I need the spawns .

Okay. How many and when do you need them?

MikeBetty:
Sorry Sir, Friday Will Not Be Convinent For Me. This Season Is Loaded With Activities, Let Us Carry It Over To First Or Second Week Of Next Year. Hope It Will Be Okey To You Sir? Thanks

First week will be fine.

utytill:
Bayelsa

Will you like to order for spawn cos we are currently producing now with other orders... just so we can do it together this week.

This is what you see when your mycelium is colonizing the substrate....

NOTE- This is just for a home work to get acquainted with the process. To do this for business in order to make good profit, one thing will come into the equation and that is supplementation. We will talk about this sooner.

After heating. Allow the substrate to cool. Please do not open at this point. When it is cool, take about 2-3 spoonful of spawn and pour around the sawdust in the bag. Maybe a spoon around the side and a spoon on top. It does not really matter how you do it, the mushroom mycelium will still grow through the bag. And please, this operation should be carried out in a clean room. If possible close any open area and stop anything like fan that will blow contaminants in to your work. After inoculation(planting your spawn in your substrate), keep it in a warm(room temperature) and dark environment. A carton is suitable.

After a day or two, you will notice that the spawn is fuzzy and something like a spider web is emanating from it. What is happening here is that the mushroom mycelium is spreading it's "tax" agents to break down the substrate and collect food. Your substrate should take between 2-3 weeks before harvest (one of the reason why I am crazy for this farming).

VERY IMPORTANT... Please do not remove your substrate from where it is to have a look at it. The reason is that while you are handling it, you will disturb the mycelium from growing. Allow the mycelium to fully grow before you begin to give it a handshake. I am saying this because I know how curious we can be. I use to do like that when I started and I ruined a lot of bags.


So that's it for now...next is to talk about preparation for harvest.

First of all, what is it going to take to produce mushrooms from let's say sawdust.

On a primary level, it goes like this.
Get sawdust, maybe something like 2 buckets of it.

Mix it with water.
Getting the right moisture content is very important. We don't want it to be too wet or too dry. So what we do is to mix the sawdust thoroughly with water. Press the sawdust tightly with your fist. If the water is coming out too fast, it means that the water content is too much. But if two or three drops comes out while you are pressing, then you are good to go.

Put the sawdust into a nylon bag. I prefer to the type that is used for ice block. Tie the bag. As an extra precaution, put it in another bag to ensure water does not get in and spoil your moisture content.

Next is to pasteurize(heat) the substrate(I believe we remember what s substrate is).
Doing this in large quantity, you might need a 55gallon drum, the type those army guys use in their check point. But if you don't have that, you can simply improvise with a smaller pot. Allow your creativity to be unlocked here.

Then you need to put water in your drum or pot. Place something under (like stones or wood)so that you bag is not in the water, but above it. What we need is for the steam to heat the bags. This is done for about 3-4 hrs. I make use of sawdust stove to reduce cost of operation(maybe we can talk about how this works if there is anyone who is interested in it).

Hello people. Sorry our class has been on hold. The work on the farm has not been easy. Right now, work is currently on to produce about 5000 bags for mushroom production. This should yield a total of 2,500- 3,500kg of mushrooms in 2-3 months.

MikeBetty:
When Would You Want Me To Come Again? I Spent Alot Of Time At Futo Yesterday Before Travelling Back To Orlu.

Yeah, I did not know you were coming. We can meet on Friday. And please endeavor to call before coming.

Atlanticfire:
Nice thread, is there much demand for mushrooms in Nigeria?

As a matter of fact, I try my best to avoid some lecturers and people living around Futo. Nobody wants to believe that you are still scaling up and you won't be able to meet everyone's demand.

MikeBetty:
That Is Fantastic. Will You Go To Futo Tommorow So That I Will Come Up.

Depending on the time though, cos our production site is at Futo while the lab is elsewhere. As Benzion pointed out, you don't put your spawn facility and mushroom farm in the same location. I will be at the two locations at different times.

You can reach me on 07011356705.

MikeBetty:
That Is Fantastic. Will You Go To Futo Tommorow So That I Will Come Up.

I live around there. Depending on the time though cos our production site is at Futo while the lab is elsewhere. As Benzion pointed out, you don't put your spawn facility and mushroom farm in the same location. I will be at the two locations at different times.

You can reach me on 07011356705.

utytill:
How much?

It is #800 for 500grams.

benzion72:
That is a major problem. Separate your spawn production and mushroom production facility. And keep observe personal hygiene where gloves and use nose cover. hope it help. another challenge is getting the right humidity

Yeah. Contamination of my substrates used to be a big problem. But come to think of it, mushrooms grow in the wild without any of the sterile procedures that we do. I then found out that there are microorganisms that are friends with oyster mushroom species, but are enemies to mushroom enemies eg trichoderma. By using fermentation of sawdust with the supplements, the results were amazing. I did about 800 bags and there was no single green mood problem. I will explain how i did that on this thread. Right now, my farm is currently undergoing renovation to get every condition in order.

Btw, I wanted to ask you how long your sawdust stove could heat up your big drum?

utytill:
How can I get the spawn?

We can waybill it to you. Where's your location?

MikeBetty:
That Is Beautiful. Where In Imo State? I Am In Owerri Now. It Will Be Easier For Me. Please Help Out, I Want To Engage Myself In Something Meaningful In 2020.

Our farm is at FUTO.
You know the place right?

SPAWN

This is the seed material that is used to inoculate the substrate.

(Please o, it is not like we are learning some kind of big grammar here. Buy there are certain terminologies that are need to be know if one is to be involved in mushroom cultivation. At least that will make you to be able to relate with whoever you are working with).

The spawn is like the seeds of the mushroom. In nature, when you want to get an orange seed, you open up the orange to get the seed.
For mushrooms, what they produce is called spores. These spores are invisible to the eyes. In nature, when these spores land on favourable places, something called mycelium begins to develop.

However, these spores have to compete with a lot of organisms for space and food in the environment. That is why you will see mushrooms growing on a log and also find something like a green stuff growing on the same tree. These organisms fight together for nutrients. But for business purpose, you want all your nutrients to go to your mushrooms. Just like you want your tomato crop to get nutrients from your land and not share it with weeds.

That is why the mushroom spawn (seed) is cultivated in the lab with some equipment and machines where sterility is needed. These spores are put into grains and then the mycelium grows. By the time the seed is gotten, the major problem has been overcome.
We can now move to planting our seeds to substrates... sawdust, grasses etc.


Am I relating?


Pictures of spawn...

In growing mushrooms...some of the basic materials needed are

1. Spawn
2. Substrate (dead leaves, grasses, sawdust, wood chips and even papers).

One can cultivate mushrooms with these materials., but to increase the amount of mushrooms one will harvest; we might need to add some material like wheat bran a calcium supplement in the substrate. Then one needs to arrange the conditions to be right for it to produce rightly.
These conditions include

1. Temperature
2. Humidity
3. Ventilation
4. Light

We should be talking about these, what I am doing at my farm to enhance efficiency.
Time to start some work at the farm this morning.

benzion72:
You can also pick some idea from my experience too https://www.nairaland.com/3859776/mushroom-cultivation-simplified

Yeah. But there are some few adjustments that I have been researching and working on to reduce mushroom cultivation biggest problem...contamination.

[quote author=MikeBetty post=85131405]Thanks Sir, Again Where Can I Get Oyster Spawn In Southeast, How Much Is A Kilo, And What Quantity Of Sawdust (substrate) Can Be Used For A Kilo Of Spawn?

My farm produces spawn. We are starting the production of another batch of spawn today. It is also located in the SE. Imo state to be precise.

Spawn is in grams. 500g is #800. With 500g, you can inoculate between 10-12 bags of sawdust substrate like the one shown up there. I use three spoonfuls of spawn for each bag.

Each of those bags contain approximately 500g of dry weight sawdust. But by the time you add other materials that I will be talking about soon, the weight might be getting to 1.5-2kg.
With proper management and conditions being set okay, each of those bags should produce at least 500g-1kg of fresh mushrooms.

But if things are not done properly, eerhmm let's just say one can at least get 200g of mushrooms from each of those bags.

Ryan03:
With you bro

You welcome sir.

MikeBetty:
My Dear Please Continue, Am Following You

No problem sir. I will be posting soon. Just need to tidy a few things...

czarina:
Welldone. Been following your thread.

Consider making Reishi and Maitake spawns (ever heard of them?). Never seen them in our part of the world. Two very powerful mushrooms.

Yup. I've heard of them. Reishi is exceptional when it comes to the powerful healing of mushrooms.

anienge001:
I love the bolded part of your response.
I salute your courage, and I wish you focus on getting all the parameters right, then start making cool money on this.

Do you make your own spawn? If yes, Have you attempted making spawn from our our native species?

I want to buy you data to watch some YouTube videos, send me your Facebook name let me see how I can give you some links to help you.

Best of luck!

Thank you very much. I do make spawn. I will be starting another batch of it next week. The type that I produce now is the soft oyster mushroom cos most of my clients prefer it.
Gradually, I will move I to different species, especially the ones used for pharmaceuticals.

Russell Ubazoro is my Facebook name.

TemmyWon:
Wow I thought you'd have to build some expensive shed or greenhouse or something

Except you want to go into some full scale commercial production. Apart from that, you can use a small room to start up.

Maybe we can start a small operation on this thread. Anyone who's interested might want to signify and share a picture of any small space with some shade. Let's see how we can tweak things up.