Mushroom Farming In Isaan

[dmax]

my wife has hinted that she would like to start mushroom farming in isaan ,she said her aunts friend has been doing it and it is easy and good money..she told me she could start up with 50,000 baht..can anyone give me some advice on this please,we have land we couls use and i think we need to build a shed also dont we ? we are just thinking about something to bring a little money into the family so we dont need to send them anymore when we go home..i have heard that frog farming is simple and easy so i would like some advise on either...thanks

[gotlost]

A friend of mine sunk 150,000 baht into mushrooms you guest it down the tubes. 50,000 baht sure. Remember when you marry you also marry the family no acceptations

[slapout]

dmax; as you will not be on site to learn and take care of the proposed venture, you may want to consider a mobile noodle stand, icecream, or ice drink stand. Much cheaper and will take less time to get bored, for the family. They can then sell the failed business to someone else and go back to what they know best. There is no easy/fast money in farming unless you are a loan shark or worse. Have no idea what you send them now but 50,000 initial investment should take care of them for a year while they think up new ideas for the next business deal. If they have saved enough to put up 50% of capital outlay then a loan for the remainder or even a part of the forthcoming profit may be a suggestion. In my personal/observed business ventures I have never had the good fortune of watching a business which is launched with gimme money lasting longer than the seed money can be spent for what ever reasons.

[JUDAS]

dmax, check out this thread about frog farming http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Hands-Experi...ng-t199164.html might be something useful there.

[Cuban]

I have read up a little on raising mushrooms for a similar project here - the key with this like most farming is access to water that is suitable for the crop. Can you see the Aunt's friend's farm before you commit?

The first thought I had about your shed/hut would be temperature control > humidity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_farming

[dmax]

yes i have went and looked at 3 different mushroom farms today...the people my wife spoke to says you cannot lose if you are not lazy...my wife says 30- 50,000 thb should take care of it then expand later,,her sister has land near our house and lots of water near there also...wife has said wait for the rice to finish so as to get the straw/hay type stuff for growing them on...anymore advice much appreciated

[howto]

Hi Cuban,

50K baht to start farming mushrooms is perhaps too much,

especially when they have not done it before. Period.

Do listen to what slapout said (post #3).

I too have never seen a venture started

from seed money only that did not fail.

A 50/50 investment(incentive) usually works.

Be willing to do perhaps 3K baht for oyster and straw 'shrooms.

Let them start slow, learn, a whole season, then ramp up..

and find a output for the product.

Your wife needs to educate herself a bit, and source output.

The Thai universities are their friend.

They have the info.

Else,

give them the 50K and look the other way...

that is to say "kiss the money goodbye".

As with any Agri-Business...

it is outlay vs yield vs the selling price.

I've asked the maid and nannies about the

price of 'shrooms at Tallad Thai...

- the white button "Agaricus bisporus" costs the most (difficult to grow)

- followed by the Black Shiitaki , (Lentinula edodes)

or Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus conifericola)

or Reishi (Gonoderma lucidum)

(all difficult to grow)

- followed by the white oyster "Pleurotus sp." (easy to grow) and

the Straw "Volvariella volvacea" (easy to grow).

(can't say exactly what the price is at the market as...

the main nanny is on a 7 day holiday to China).

Personally I would recommend the oyster and straw mushrooms.

There are several questions your wife needs to consider...

1 - what is the selling price of these 4, there in the local market

2 - is the market "saturated" with 'shrooms

3 - what 'shroom" is the wife's "aunts friend" growing

how is she selling it, at the local market (themselves) or a middleman...

and for how much (in either case),

4 - the spoilage factor, at the market,...

how many do they have to throw away.

5 - At the market, do they keep them cool.

6 - Labor and transportation costs to produce, pick, bag, move.

This is not like growing rice, or veggies, or fruit.

All shroom's like temps <30C and 80+% humidity.

Think environment (structure).

Some grow best in high C:N environs...

and some do not...

- Black Shiitaki and such like hardwood sawdust (200:1)

- Buttons on compost (<30:1)

- Oyster and Straw on Rice Bran or shredded rice straw (70:1).

Sometimes a sugar (such as a brown) is required.

Some may use a cheap (home-made) alcohol.

No ferts are required to grow 'shrooms.

But all substrate "must" be pasteurized...

before the injection of the innoculm...

that is to say heated to 71C (160F) for 5~10 minutes before use,

and must remain uncontaminated.

Other considerations I have noted in posts:

in warm humid environs, other fungi/bacterial growth may occur...

that is on walls, floors, etc..

a mix of 50/50 bleach water in a sprayer solves that.

Just don't let it get close to the 'shrooms.

Disposal of the rice bran/straw substrate after the crop is finished is easy,

just dump it in a row, add some EM and turn the row often.

Then use it in the garden, around trees or sell it.

If the substrate is wood then find a place to dispose of it...

well it can be EM'ed and composted, just takes a long time,

and I do not use wood chips or sawdust in or around the property.

Here in LOS,

bags of premixed with everything can be easily ordered and delivered.

It's not expensive on a small scale, (which is where they should start).

I don't have links to the local sources.

I would suggest the following...

A) they need to source selling the potential output...

1 - sell them in the market themselves or

2 - sell them to a middle man or

3 - let the wife's "aunts friend" close by sell them (get a profit) or

3 - just give them to the wife's "aunts friend" to sell at no profit,

(that will be hard for them to do, even if you paid for everything).

The wife educates herself from doc's from Thai Uni's.

C) If "A" and "B" is satisfied then,

The wife source and order

10 bags each of oyster and straw 'shrooms in pre-mix bags.

That will cost <3 baht per 4 months or so.

Let them start growing those for a whole year.

They do need the learning curve.

Pics from the wife's "aunts friend" would be great...

and what 'shroom she is growing and, and, and.

Some Links...

Growing Button 'shrooms and others

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/apr2001.html

mushroom cultivation with rice husk cow manure compost

https://qir.kyushu-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream...4587/1/p273.pdf

Growing Oyster 'shrooms

http://www.mycowest.org/cult/i-grow/i-grow-1.htm

Disabled-Thais_mushroom-growing

http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/highli...97/970701-e.htm

Mushroom Cultivation - For The Novice Grower

http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/sustainablea...sser/index.html

Getting Started with Mushroom Cultivation

http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/cultivation.html

and

http://www.mycomasters.com/Basics.html

then how to collect spores...

google search "collect"+"mushroom spore"

buy-spore-spawn

http://www.fungi.com/cultures/spawn.html

Collecting_for_scientific_study

http://www.nemf.org/files/guidelines/Colle...tific_study.pdf

keep mushroom farm for next year...

http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?p=799954

Mushroom Spore Print

http://www.spores101.com/spore-print.php

All of the above links are active 2009-11-12.

This is but a very small set of links.

Google is your friend...

search phrase "mushrooms thailand". Thousands of sites.

Now I invite you to read other TV posts...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mushroom-Gro...ts-t223209.html

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mushroom-Compost-t46340.html

If they learn to do this...

(they will listen to the local gov of how to do it, but not a farang

which is why I mentioned the Thai Universities)

it will be another step to creating what they should be doing...

which is "a year round crop that is not rice".

But all of this is relevant...

think transportation costs...

does not make sense to grow a lot of 'shrooms

if one cannot get it to market at a decent price in time...

it is a perishable crop.

Honestly IF they can do this (year round),

they will discover that it may generate a decent income.

Here we grew oyster and straw 'shrooms from bags...

not a lot, they did well, until the hot season.

Cheers and good luck!

Edited November 12, 2009 by howto

[dmax]

Hi Cuban,

50K baht to start farming mushrooms is perhaps too much,

especially when they have not done it before. Period.

Do listen to what slapout said (post #3).

I too have never seen a venture started

from seed money only that did not fail.

A 50/50 investment(incentive) usually works.

Be willing to do perhaps 3K baht for oyster and straw 'shrooms.

Let them start slow, learn, a whole season, then ramp up..

and find a output for the product.

Your wife needs to educate herself a bit, and source output.

The Thai universities are their friend.

They have the info.

Else,

give them the 50K and look the other way...

that is to say "kiss the money goodbye".

As with any Agri-Business...

it is outlay vs yield vs the selling price.

I've asked the maid and nannies about the

price of 'shrooms at Tallad Thai...

- the white button "Agaricus bisporus" costs the most (difficult to grow)

- followed by the Black Shiitaki , (Lentinula edodes)

or Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus conifericola)

or Reishi (Gonoderma lucidum)

(all difficult to grow)

- followed by the white oyster "Pleurotus sp." (easy to grow) and

the Straw "Volvariella volvacea" (easy to grow).

(can't say exactly what the price is at the market as...

the main nanny is on a 7 day holiday to China).

Personally I would recommend the oyster and straw mushrooms.

There are several questions your wife needs to consider...

1 - what is the selling price of these 4, there in the local market

2 - is the market "saturated" with 'shrooms

3 - what 'shroom" is the wife's "aunts friend" growing

how is she selling it, at the local market (themselves) or a middleman...

and for how much (in either case),

4 - the spoilage factor, at the market,...

how many do they have to throw away.

5 - At the market, do they keep them cool.

6 - Labor and transportation costs to produce, pick, bag, move.

This is not like growing rice, or veggies, or fruit.

All shroom's like temps <30C and 80+% humidity.

Think environment (structure).

Some grow best in high C:N environs...

and some do not...

- Black Shiitaki and such like hardwood sawdust (200:1)

- Buttons on compost (<30:1)

- Oyster and Straw on Rice Bran or shredded rice straw (70:1).

Sometimes a sugar (such as a brown) is required.

Some may use a cheap (home-made) alcohol.

No ferts are required to grow 'shrooms.

But all substrate "must" be pasteurized...

before the injection of the innoculm...

that is to say heated to 71C (160F) for 5~10 minutes before use,

and must remain uncontaminated.

Other considerations I have noted in posts:

in warm humid environs, other fungi/bacterial growth may occur...

that is on walls, floors, etc..

a mix of 50/50 bleach water in a sprayer solves that.

Just don't let it get close to the 'shrooms.

Disposal of the rice bran/straw substrate after the crop is finished is easy,

just dump it in a row, add some EM and turn the row often.

Then use it in the garden, around trees or sell it.

If the substrate is wood then find a place to dispose of it...

well it can be EM'ed and composted, just takes a long time,

and I do not use wood chips or sawdust in or around the property.

Here in LOS,

bags of premixed with everything can be easily ordered and delivered.

It's not expensive on a small scale, (which is where they should start).

I don't have links to the local sources.

I would suggest the following...

A) they need to source selling the potential output...

1 - sell them in the market themselves or

2 - sell them to a middle man or

3 - let the wife's "aunts friend" close by sell them (get a profit) or

3 - just give them to the wife's "aunts friend" to sell at no profit,

(that will be hard for them to do, even if you paid for everything).

The wife educates herself from doc's from Thai Uni's.

C) If "A" and "B" is satisfied then,

The wife source and order

10 bags each of oyster and straw 'shrooms in pre-mix bags.

That will cost <3 baht per 4 months or so.

Let them start growing those for a whole year.

They do need the learning curve.

Pics from the wife's "aunts friend" would be great...

and what 'shroom she is growing and, and, and.

Some Links...

Growing Button 'shrooms and others

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/apr2001.html

mushroom cultivation with rice husk cow manure compost

https://qir.kyushu-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream...4587/1/p273.pdf

Growing Oyster 'shrooms

http://www.mycowest.org/cult/i-grow/i-grow-1.htm

Disabled-Thais_mushroom-growing

http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/highli...97/970701-e.htm

Mushroom Cultivation - For The Novice Grower

http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/sustainablea...sser/index.html

Getting Started with Mushroom Cultivation

http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/cultivation.html

and

http://www.mycomasters.com/Basics.html

then how to collect spores...

google search "collect"+"mushroom spore"

buy-spore-spawn

http://www.fungi.com/cultures/spawn.html

Collecting_for_scientific_study

http://www.nemf.org/files/guidelines/Colle...tific_study.pdf

keep mushroom farm for next year...

http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?p=799954

Mushroom Spore Print

http://www.spores101.com/spore-print.php

All of the above links are active 2009-11-12.

This is but a very small set of links.

Google is your friend...

search phrase "mushrooms thailand". Thousands of sites.

Now I invite you to read other TV posts...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mushroom-Gro...ts-t223209.html

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mushroom-Compost-t46340.html

If they learn to do this...

(they will listen to the local gov of how to do it, but not a farang

which is why I mentioned the Thai Universities)

it will be another step to creating what they should be doing...

which is "a year round crop that is not rice".

But all of this is relevant...

think transportation costs...

does not make sense to grow a lot of 'shrooms

if one cannot get it to market at a decent price in time...

it is a perishable crop.

Honestly IF they can do this (year round),

they will discover that it may generate a decent income.

Here we grew oyster and straw 'shrooms from bags...

not a lot, they did well, until the hot season.

Cheers and good luck!

thanks very much, some good interesting reading ,will def take me a good while to digest all this info. and even longer to explain to the wife lol lol

[Gary A]

My wife spent several thousand baht to get started. She wanted to be sure it paid off before investing any more money. She got a few mushrooms and decided that they sell mushrooms too cheap at the local market. She harvested her small crop and decided it was cheaper to buy them at the local market for her own use. My wife is always on the go and she is anything EXCEPT lazy.

ADDED - This was her second try. The first time she got nary a mushroom. She refused to accept that she couldn't grow them. The second time she claimed she had expert advice from a commercial grower.

Edited November 13, 2009 by Gary A

[Nio]

Hi Cuban,

50K baht to start farming mushrooms is perhaps too much,

especially when they have not done it before. Period.

Do listen to what slapout said (post #3).

I too have never seen a venture started

from seed money only that did not fail.

A 50/50 investment(incentive) usually works.

Be willing to do perhaps 3K baht for oyster and straw 'shrooms.

Let them start slow, learn, a whole season, then ramp up..

and find a output for the product.

Your wife needs to educate herself a bit, and source output.

The Thai universities are their friend.

They have the info.

Else,

give them the 50K and look the other way...

that is to say "kiss the money goodbye".

As with any Agri-Business...

it is outlay vs yield vs the selling price.

I've asked the maid and nannies about the

price of 'shrooms at Tallad Thai...

- the white button "Agaricus bisporus" costs the most (difficult to grow)

- followed by the Black Shiitaki , (Lentinula edodes)

or Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus conifericola)

or Reishi (Gonoderma lucidum)

(all difficult to grow)

- followed by the white oyster "Pleurotus sp." (easy to grow) and

the Straw "Volvariella volvacea" (easy to grow).

(can't say exactly what the price is at the market as...

the main nanny is on a 7 day holiday to China).

Personally I would recommend the oyster and straw mushrooms.

There are several questions your wife needs to consider...

1 - what is the selling price of these 4, there in the local market

2 - is the market "saturated" with 'shrooms

3 - what 'shroom" is the wife's "aunts friend" growing

how is she selling it, at the local market (themselves) or a middleman...

and for how much (in either case),

4 - the spoilage factor, at the market,...

how many do they have to throw away.

5 - At the market, do they keep them cool.

6 - Labor and transportation costs to produce, pick, bag, move.

This is not like growing rice, or veggies, or fruit.

All shroom's like temps <30C and 80+% humidity.

Think environment (structure).

Some grow best in high C:N environs...

and some do not...

- Black Shiitaki and such like hardwood sawdust (200:1)

- Buttons on compost (<30:1)

- Oyster and Straw on Rice Bran or shredded rice straw (70:1).

Sometimes a sugar (such as a brown) is required.

Some may use a cheap (home-made) alcohol.

No ferts are required to grow 'shrooms.

But all substrate "must" be pasteurized...

before the injection of the innoculm...

that is to say heated to 71C (160F) for 5~10 minutes before use,

and must remain uncontaminated.

Other considerations I have noted in posts:

in warm humid environs, other fungi/bacterial growth may occur...

that is on walls, floors, etc..

a mix of 50/50 bleach water in a sprayer solves that.

Just don't let it get close to the 'shrooms.

Disposal of the rice bran/straw substrate after the crop is finished is easy,

just dump it in a row, add some EM and turn the row often.

Then use it in the garden, around trees or sell it.

If the substrate is wood then find a place to dispose of it...

well it can be EM'ed and composted, just takes a long time,

and I do not use wood chips or sawdust in or around the property.

Here in LOS,

bags of premixed with everything can be easily ordered and delivered.

It's not expensive on a small scale, (which is where they should start).

I don't have links to the local sources.

I would suggest the following...

A) they need to source selling the potential output...

1 - sell them in the market themselves or

2 - sell them to a middle man or

3 - let the wife's "aunts friend" close by sell them (get a profit) or

3 - just give them to the wife's "aunts friend" to sell at no profit,

(that will be hard for them to do, even if you paid for everything).

The wife educates herself from doc's from Thai Uni's.

C) If "A" and "B" is satisfied then,

The wife source and order

10 bags each of oyster and straw 'shrooms in pre-mix bags.

That will cost <3 baht per 4 months or so.

Let them start growing those for a whole year.

They do need the learning curve.

Pics from the wife's "aunts friend" would be great...

and what 'shroom she is growing and, and, and.

Some Links...

Growing Button 'shrooms and others

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/apr2001.html

mushroom cultivation with rice husk cow manure compost

https://qir.kyushu-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream...4587/1/p273.pdf

Growing Oyster 'shrooms

http://www.mycowest.org/cult/i-grow/i-grow-1.htm

Disabled-Thais_mushroom-growing

http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/highli...97/970701-e.htm

Mushroom Cultivation - For The Novice Grower

http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/sustainablea...sser/index.html

Getting Started with Mushroom Cultivation

http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/cultivation.html

and

http://www.mycomasters.com/Basics.html

then how to collect spores...

google search "collect"+"mushroom spore"

buy-spore-spawn

http://www.fungi.com/cultures/spawn.html

Collecting_for_scientific_study

http://www.nemf.org/files/guidelines/Colle...tific_study.pdf

keep mushroom farm for next year...

http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?p=799954

Mushroom Spore Print

http://www.spores101.com/spore-print.php

All of the above links are active 2009-11-12.

This is but a very small set of links.

Google is your friend...

search phrase "mushrooms thailand". Thousands of sites.

Now I invite you to read other TV posts...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mushroom-Gro...ts-t223209.html

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Mushroom-Compost-t46340.html

If they learn to do this...

(they will listen to the local gov of how to do it, but not a farang

which is why I mentioned the Thai Universities)

it will be another step to creating what they should be doing...

which is "a year round crop that is not rice".

But all of this is relevant...

think transportation costs...

does not make sense to grow a lot of 'shrooms

if one cannot get it to market at a decent price in time...

it is a perishable crop.

Honestly IF they can do this (year round),

they will discover that it may generate a decent income.

Here we grew oyster and straw 'shrooms from bags...

not a lot, they did well, until the hot season.

Cheers and good luck!

Wonderful post

[FlakeyFoont]

50k sounds a bit much. My girlfriend grew mushrooms for a while in the village. I don't know what type but she bought the ready mix bags that howto talked about in his post. We put up a frame for the shed made of cut trees and scrap wood then covered it in black plastic sheeting. Cost 600 baht for the roll of plastic. 1000 ready mix bags were delivered and cost 5 baht per bag. Total start up cost 5,600 baht.

These bags produced mushrooms daily for almost 3 months. Took around 2 hours of work in the morning and 2 hours at night. She then sold them in front of the house in the village and made between 200-400 baht per day. Not too bad for 4 hours work. Selling them was just a matter of being home when people dropped by to buy them.

Funny part of the story is she just wanted to get this set up for her mother to make money, but her mother later decided it was too much work!

[Milo]

All I can say is the Thai guy behind us with 10 sheds for the 7years we've been living here has just torn them down less than 6 months ago because he can't make money at it any more. No more fresh mushrooms for us!

[Bosse137]

Some years ago,it was THE thing to do here in Isaan,where I live.Actually looked into it myself,but never got started for different reasons.Lots of people started doing this,but after less than a year,everybody stopped.Not sure of the reason,except that it didn´t live up to people´s expectations...By the way,I agree with others,that just giving money to "family" to invest,is usually lost money..

[Milo]

Some years ago,it was THE thing to do here in Isaan,where I live.Actually looked into it myself,but never got started for different reasons.Lots of people started doing this,but after less than a year,everybody stopped.Not sure of the reason,except that it didn´t live up to people´s expectations...By the way,I agree with others,that just giving money to "family" to invest,is usually lost money..

Agreed; they've no idea of reinvestment.

Rubber/Eucalyptus trees appears to be 'the' thing to do now, the bottom will fall out of that market due to overproduction soon too.... Supply & demand, what's that?!?!

[bannork]

A year ago my missus wanted to start mushroom farming, 70,000 baht to get started, but she changed her mind after visiting 2 local farms, just lose money she said. I don't know why.

These mushrooms seem to be going fine