Subject: Odour production at professional Agaricus composting sites

From: [email-masked] (Djborder)
Date: 14 Aug 1996 04:57:11 -0400

I would be interested in contacting anyone with knowledge of the
techniques used to  minimise the production of odours from commercial
mushroom composting sites.

David Border

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From: [email-masked] (UNICORNbag)
Date: 18 Aug 1996 18:04:51 -0400

In the last Penn State conference in June, there was a talk on Odor and is
described in detail on page 137 of the proceedings. Do contact Dr, Dan
Royse to get a copy.
Lou Hsu
[email-masked]@aol.com

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From: [email-masked] ("K N and P J Harris")
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 12:15:10 GMT

Mushroom composting.
This has caused quite a few odour problems in Uk. Mainly because the 
enterprise started off on an isolated site "deep" in the countryside 
until a lot of townies thought it cute and built their dream-homes right 
up against the boundary. THEN they noticed that there was a smell, 
complained and often got the site closed down. Our planning laws make 
this possible.

I was involved briefly in trying to help a composter try to reduce 
odours but I think he eventually went under anyway.

One or two things can help.
(1) If manure is used as an activator keep it as dry as possible and 
don't leave it piled up for too long. This is bound to make a real stink 
when moved.
(2) In stage 1 it is very tempting to recycle liquid back onto the 
stack. This is invariably bad news because the stored liquor will 
inevitably go anaerobic and smelly and the redistribution will give a 
superb opportunity for the odours to get spread around to say nothing of 
the possible aerosol problems.
(3) Rinsing down stackyards (to an environmentally friendly drainage 
system obviously) can stop the rich smell that develops when a mucky 
yard starts to dry out in the heat of the sun.
(4) Trials with deodorants suggest they make things worse rather than 
better.

More oddball ideas _ a thick coniferous tree belt may have some small 
effect.
Generous donations of free mushrooms to near neighbours may be just as 
effective.

More seriously, the potential for ammonium release is significant. In 
the Netherlands these operations are more often done inside with air 
scrubbers to reduce ammonium (and also odour) release.

Peter Harris.
Department of Soil Science,
The University of Reading, UK.

AKA  <[email-masked]>

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From: [email-masked] (Mark Spear)
Date: 22 Aug 96 03:29:21 -0700

I'm not a composter but I visit many Agaricus farms in the course of 
my job.  There are a few general rules that can help like reduce 
anaerobic smells (fecal smells).  However the only really effective 
overall solution to date is "indoor" Phase I.  This can be in Phase I 
tunnels or bunkers.  This is not cheap.  There are a number of 
venders who will be more than happy to take large amounts of money to 
help out.  In fact the biggest composter in Holland (CNC) now uses 
Phase I tunnels exclusively.  It has caused a few problems for 
growers but they appear to be able to adjust.

While it can cost a great deal there are other advantages to these systems.
	1) They save a lot of warf space and can allow a farm to build more 
on a small site.
	2) You can save 15-25% of raw materials.
	3) You are supposed to be able to get more uniform compost summer and winter.
	4) Compost preparation times are much shorter and can be more automated.

Remember this technology is still mostly experimental.  If you do 
this pick a vendor who has several successful customers then go see 
at least two!  

Hope this helps.

    ---- Mark