Technical
Instructions for using Sporekill
Below is a useful document giving instructions for all areas of usage for Sporekill Disinfectant
Mixing Organic MycroNutrient prior to use
We always state that IBC’s are agitated before they are drawn off and dilution. There are 2 alternatives; an air line ‘cable tied’ to a pole that can reach the bottom. Most of the time that works very well.
If however the product has been stored for a long time or maybe subject to warm conditions during shipment, it may have ‘dropped out’ more than usual (it is a suspension). Another alternative is to use a two handle ‘plaster mixer’ and to extend the shaft by cutting in two and welding both ends into a tube collar so that it can reach the bottom of the IBC. Within 10 minutes all should corrected and it should remain in suspension after that for another few weeks.
Once this has been done, for subsequent application a long wooden lath can be to agitate concentrate before drawing it off.
Keeping wooden trays clean
Sporekill is great for cleaning wooden trays. Although plastic can line and protect the bottoms of the trays there is no good way of controlling the moulds on the sides of the boxes. Many of these contribute to spotting and quality loss during the crop.
Sporekill has high detergency for penetrating wood and when it dries it seals and traps mycelium and spores in wood thus reducing spores forming on the sides during cropping.
1.5-3 L Sporekill in 200L of water (0.75-1.5%) depending on cleaness of trays.
Plenty of volume is important as can be seen on the video.
In this farm, the trays are thoroughly wetted down after emptying and left on the yard for a week before reuse. Trays remain ‘cleaner’ during cropping.
New Sporekill Drum Size 20 litres
Sporekill is now available in 20L drum size and we will discontinue 25L.
The reasons for this are:
- We can fit more drums on a pallet (up to 3 layers of 16 drums)
- With same drums as Mycro products, it means we can load mixed pallets of disinfectant and supplement because they nest properly
- Easier to carry because of the density and heavy weight of Sporekill
Improving Shelf Life and Yield
In the last two years we have made big moves forward in solving how to increase yield from current stagnant levels. The key is in having nutrition in two different growing zones at the same time; hence our continued approach with casing supplement with simple ‘water on’ solution.
We were not sure whether the yield increases were coming from water or dry matter and we are now sure it is the latter. You can, like others pick up 2-3kg/m² without interacting with the compost, so is worthy of serious consideration.#
Increasing dry matter with Mycroliquid Supplement
Alternative to cooking out
Cooking out with steam still remains the safest option when emptying growing rooms. However you must bear in mind that steam will not get your floors to a high enough temperature to kill most mushroom pathogens, which means another strategy must be adopted.
One such strategy is using a tried and tested mushroom disinfectant like Sporekill (Nutriclean). It is ideal for cleaning growing rooms; floors, walls and shelving etc. It is, in our opinion, the best solution for floors because after disinfection action it leaves a odourless protective film over all the tiny cracks and holes on the floor surface, sealing any remaining spores and debris settling after filling of your rooms. This stops any disease becoming airborne again and leaves surfaces clean and safe for foot traffic and packaging bases.
Don’t just take our word for it….our customers are the proof, it’s a fact that once they start using it they rarely change back to any other disinfectant and your mushrooms will never have any unsafe residues in them.
We have made a new video presentation about our disinfectant to explain about its benefits in more detail.
https://files.secureserver.net/0fTcAMzWfJsppf
Please email us for entry password and then navigate to the folder of interest eg disinfection click on “Staying ahead of risk” video.
Reduction of Verticillium disease spread
“Consider what happens after a diseased crop is watered; pools of contaminated water collect on the floor and some at least will dry out. Sooner or later someone will walk on the floor and disturb debris and Verticillium spores lying on it.
Air sampling showed that it only required one person to walk down the central gangway of a cropping house with a clean dry concrete floor for the dust and spore content of the atmosphere to increase noticeably”
Doreen G Gandy, GCRI
This type of spread can be prevented by sprinkling SPOREKILL on the floor.