Plastic Free Mushroom Farming? | GroCycle

We discuss why plastic bags are so widely used in mushroom growing and take a look at some alternatives.

One of the most common bits of feedback we've heard from people is something along the lines of:

"why do you have to use so much plastic?"

And it's a fair point...

Single-use plastic bags are widely used in the mushroom industry, and with millions of tons of substrate filled into bags each year, it's a really harmful practice that needs to be addressed.

So that's what we're looking at in this week's video:

In the video we take a look at:

- Why plastic bags are used so much in mushroom cultivation
- Alternative options like beds, buckets and bottles

- Biodegradeable bags (and why they're not the answer we're all hoping for)
- Why we're switching half of our production over to growing mushrooms in buckets

[CeridwenBuckmaster]

I find it really heartening that you are asking these hard questions about sustainability for the planet vs ease and sustainability for a business

[lisemariecaron]

This channel will grow because it offers alternatives to people, education, and alternatives, show them ways to go

[pitabread]

such quality content -- this is like a masterclass/presentation style which is refreshing for YT

[henricoderre]

Near the end of your video you mention cleaning the buckets, It sounds like a tedious time consuming task. Some thirty years ago, I made beer using carboys, but I also tried to make my own wine in 5 gallon buckets like yours. There was a chemical readily available at the beer and wine equipment store used to cleaning the buckets. I think it was calcium chloride. I only needed a little, 1 tsp per 5 gallons of water. To my recollection, cleaning the buckets was quick work. Of course, this is better for small operations, and may not meet the needs of a mushroom farm with hundreds of buckets. Anyway, it might be worth looking into.

[mell]

Didn't expect to find such a guide! I was just thinking about searching how to see how to grow without plastic and this video appeared. Thanks a lot!

[maxm]

I think hemp plastics are the future once it starts getting used more and becomes readily available.

[yandigilov]

This is a really important conversation to have. I am also looking for what we can do with old substrate. I'd love to have a space just to discuss innovations in sustainable mushroom growing. Please do update is about your results growing buckets and bags side by side.

[annabarendt]

I worked at PALS Mushroom farm (Portland, OR) in 2020 and packed the buckets with the pasteurized substrate and spawn. We cleaned the buckets with a power sprayer and then soaked them in a bleach bath. Stored them in the incubator room and then wiped them down with a bleach cloth before packing. I found that they do become brittle over time and shatter, which can cause cuts to your hands if you are not careful. I am sure that by this time, you have come up with your own way to clean them. I enjoyed the work, even though it was very physical, and we grew beautiful oysters. :) 

We sold the old substrate as a garden amendment. I did, and we told other to, put the old, well-inoculated, mycelium-laden substrate into a bucket at home, but to replace the center of the mycelium block with fresh straw, cap with a wooden board weighted with a brick (high tech stuff, you know), place in the shade, under a ventilated plastic if needed, water and keep an eye on the humidity and then have another flush. In the summer it would be too hot to do this, but the fall, winter, and spring were great times for growing this way. 

I have thought about stainless steel, round with sealable holes (we always taped the grow holes on the buckets until we saw signs of growth and moved them to the growing chamber) and some sort of gasketed, sealable/locking top, almost like a pressure cooker lid, with a rubber patch to inoculate through. Pricey, but very durable.


Really enjoying your videos. :)

[markus_selloi]

I am going to make it with buckets. Because a friends restaurant normally uses quite a lot of those.. But have you thought about an restaurant dish washer for the bucket cleaning? You can just cycle 6-10 buckets every 2 minutes, and you are able to do stuff in the meantime. Thanks for the video!

[bennartey]

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge for free and for caring about the environment.
Getting my buckets tomorrow.
Peace and love from Ghana

[milanistaminetti]

what about glass jars (that can fit in a dishwasher) with hole/holes in the lid for the mushroom to grow out of?

[mkennedy]

I know a grower who started with buckets but switched over to plastic bags because the labor required was just too much to scale up and become a more profitable business.

[fredfrond]

Coming up with reusable containers and techniques are a step forward. A step that most othe you tubers are not providing content for. Bravo.

[sergefog]

This really summarises the whole eco genda: plastics are bad but having to put manual labour (or money into machinery) into cleaning of stuff is worse. No wonder we got nowhere in our fight against waste.

[DisasterAuntie]

I love that you're going through your processes and trying to find ways of making them more sustainable! I'm curious, though, if you've considered that the reason for avoiding plastic isn't just because of single-use plastics. It's also that even (especially) in reusable plastic containers, there will be some microparticles that can't help but be absorbed into the soil or substrate -- depending on what's being planted -- and from there, directly into the food you're trying to grow.
I've been looking into various alternatives myself, and I think I know what's needed. What I'm hoping to find, or commission, is a cylindrical container made of either ceramic or glass, perforated every 3 inches or so with quarter-inch to half-inch holes along its length. It probably wouldn't be viable for a large commercial concern, but for a home grower, a one-gallon or half-gallon container with a removable lid would be perfectly reasonable, both in terms of finding storage space and in terms of getting it into a dishwasher when it's time to clean it out.
I have friends who are potters and I plan to commission such a growing container, once I've demonstrated to my wife that we CAN grow mushrooms in glass jars on our countertop (or in the wine fridge that some relative gave us, thinking that we drink wine). I think it'll work.

[jonathancurry]

I used to work in a brewery and have grown mushrooms at home for a number of years. We used to clean casks with specially designed wash stations where you could essentially fill up a tank with cleaning solution (sodium hydroxide/peracetic acid) and cycle it through the casks via an arm fitted with a spray ball. Maybe you could use a similar system for your plastic grow buckets?
Sodium hydroxide isn't the nicest chemical but was used to quickly clean off solid biofilm. Peracetic acid was used to sanitise afterwards, and eventually breaks down into non-toxic compounds (you can put beer straight into a peracetic cleaned tank without needing to rinse). Cycling the liquid cleaning chemicals within the system meant we could do tens of casks with only about 50-100L of each.

[alsinakiria]

My local ice cream shop just throws away their bins. They are happy to give them to me for free. They know me now.

[dc]

As always gents, another cracking look at mushroom growing. Great stuff!

[CaseyCorbett]

Amazing video!!!
The plastic that's been saved because of this video makes a difference!!! You rock!!!

[linusreimertz]

precisely what i have been looking for(: