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A grower needs two products to be able to grow mushrooms: full-grown compost and casing soil. Full-grown compost contains the essential nutrients for the mushroom. Casing soil is used for the supply of water to the compost, it prevents dehydration of the compost and provides a good environment in which the mushrooms can fructify.
A layer of approximately 35 centimetres of full-grown compost is filled into the cultivation beds. On top of the layer of full-grown compost a layer of approximately 4.5 centimetres of casing soil is added. The mycelium threads grow into the casing soil. Here the threads form small pins which grow into full-grown mushrooms. It is a remarkably quick growing process; the mushroom doubles its size every day! The harvest can start. A harvest period is called a ‘flush, in the jargon of mushroom growing. A grower harvests two or three flushes in each cell.
A grower has to see to it that his cultivation spaces are never in the same cultivation stage at the same time, because in that case he would have to harvest in all cultivation spaces in the same week. A grower takes care of order and regularity at his company and he reaches this by filling the cultivation spaces in turns. As the cultivation process follows a fixed cycle, the grower can harvest in the same number of cells each week. A growing cycle takes a maximum of six weeks.
