Advice regards mushroom farming.

[Scouse123]

Hi,

I hope somebody may have time to help us.

My Thai partner has a decent plot of land in Kalasin behind our houses which is basically not used.

I was thinking of levelling off the unused land which is about 1 rai. We already have rice land etc and I was wanting to invest in something different and put this to good use whilst having an interest.

I have never done mushroom farming in sheds but have been reading about it on the forums and it doesn't seem too expensive to set up. My questions are.

1. Approximate set upcosts, small at first and I am on dodgy fround as I have no knowledge.

2. Are there any places or possibly farming courses, where this can be learnt in a few days regards what is required with set ups and what is needed. etc.

3. Any advice if this is a relatively easy task to do, I have a decent brain and so does she.

'

4. Any dangers or pitfalls of entering into this business?

5. Would I be better trying to sell on to an agent if this project were successful or word of mouth locally?

6. How long does it take to get a crop yield from start to finish please?

Sorry, for any naiviety displayed in my quest for learning and understanding mushroom farming.

[WtFugarwe]

do you have a source for mushroom spore or do you intend to cook your own?

[Scouse123]

Hi,

No,we have no source for spores, I am only just starting to learn.

I have researched slightly but off to meet a guy in Cambodia (from Europe) who says he will come up and set up the A-Z for me. He will want a fee of course. It does seem very complicated the more I delve into it with differing types, spores, steaming and the different ways of doing things.

I will persevere though.

[slapout]

Contact tv member ''packdee'' he has the experience, operating facilities, knowledge etc. Do a search and you will find most of the answers before you ask the question..

[jacky54]

My mate did it at saraburi, bought the land set it all up bought the start up material for his mrs in laws. Lasted about 6 months, apparently you have to be on hand 24/7 and they did not like the idea of hard work.

[teletiger]

You don't specify what type of mushrooms. I grow oyster mushrooms, so I'll presume that.

We'll take your questions one at a time....

1. Approximate set up costs, small at first and I am on dodgy ground as I have no knowledge.
OK so start with 5000 bottles. The mushroom house 4m X 8m should cost you about 10/12K (max) Baht. This will include waterproof roof. (not grass) Concrete posts, Bamboo bottle backings, brick bases for the bottles., and black netting down all sides.

2. Are there any places or possibly farming courses, where this can be learnt in a few days regards what is required with set ups and what is needed. etc

Yes. Lots (most?) Provinces have Government run schemes for all farming stuff. Also most local Uni's have Ag departments that run educational courses. If you are anywhere near Saraburi , of course, the excellent Col Pak De from these very boards, runs a free mushroom growing course on his homestay farm. Highly rated by the members on this board, and in fluent English as I can qualify.

3. Any advice if this is a relatively easy task to do, I have a decent brain and so does she.

Starting up any venture is easy to do....put money in....lose it. Easy. Successful mushroom growing is not easy. I'm in my second season and we have just broken even at week 14. (Don't ask about our first season)

I figure by the end of this run we will have made a 30% profit....barring disasters in the next few weeks.

4. Any dangers or pitfalls of entering into this business?
Entering it is a pitfall. Expect to lose money in the first 6 months. The learning process is fraught....people will tell you this...other.people will tell you that...I will tell you something else.... "water on the floor" "don't water on the floor", "Don't water in the bags", "water in the bags".....
"Take the plastic inserts out", "Take the fronts off".........Take your brain out and lobotomize yourself...Oh, wait.

5. Would I be better trying to sell on to an agent if this project were successful or word of mouth locally?

For 5000 bottles, sell locally. Wholesale is for when you get past the stage where you can't sell what you produce. Even then I would urge you to sell cheaper and miss out the middleman.
Our customer sell for 100 Baht per kilo, buying from us at 50/45 Baht at the Talat nat.

Set up a local stall somewhere and double your profits.

6. How long does it take to get a crop yield from start to finish please?

Depends what mushrooms you take on. Start with the easiest ones first. Oysters..20 weeks.

There is no experience like experience. Try it for yourself. 50,000 Baht. (max)

10/12 K Baht for the house,35,000 for 5K bottles 5,000 Baht expenses.....elec, water etc.

Don't buy any land. Rent it.
Watch 'yer arse.
:-)
'And.....Good luck.

,

[Scouse123]

Dying ember and you other guys,

Thanks very much for your input especially dying ember for your full respose.

No worries on land, it's ours, no worries on water, we have our own.

I will probably take up the experienced guy in Cambodia and see how it goes as he has done them in the past, is very keen on expenses and wants paying on a yield by yield basis.

We can watch and learn and in the meantime google a plenty!

Cheers,

[tingtong]

I found that it isn't the set up really that makes things difficult, nor the cost in the case of mushroom. As teletiger said, all startup can be done relative cheap compare to many other business.

I believe the selling is the key.

There is another older mushroom thread, I think lots of good info there.

We have a small mushroom biz, usually only about 3000-4000 bottles. Wife sell retail, rarely we sell larger quantity, a big reason being that we live very rural, and there is just not enough villagers to sell to more. We can still maintain a retail rice of about 75-80thb.

If we would have a middleman buyer, maybe would invest to go for quantity, but as was mentioned, the middleman would look to pay only about 50thb per kg, which would eat up considerable amount of the profit.

Coincidentally, as teletiger, we also had a poor run on the last batch, with a breakeven occurring only about 2.5 months, and bringing down the profit to only about 15%...vs. a good run mushrooms breakeven at 1 month or even less, and profit to run about 50+%.

While the numbers impressive as written, don't need to worry, it wont make one rich, a little extra income, and fresh mushroom on the table.

If selling isn't too good, then LOTs of fresh mushroom!

To be honest, I am not sure you would need that help to set up all, the thing isn't that difficult, and I don't think you need to get hit for extra expense.

[noopin2014]

On 10/13/2014 at 11:40 PM, teletiger said:

You don't specify what type of mushrooms. I grow oyster mushrooms, so I'll presume that.

We'll take your questions one at a time....

1. Approximate set up costs, small at first and I am on dodgy ground as I have no knowledge.
OK so start with 5000 bottles. The mushroom house 4m X 8m should cost you about 10/12K (max) Baht. This will include waterproof roof. (not grass) Concrete posts, Bamboo bottle backings, brick bases for the bottles., and black netting down all sides.

2. Are there any places or possibly farming courses, where this can be learnt in a few days regards what is required with set ups and what is needed. etc

Yes. Lots (most?) Provinces have Government run schemes for all farming stuff. Also most local Uni's have Ag departments that run educational courses. If you are anywhere near Saraburi , of course, the excellent Col Pak De from these very boards, runs a free mushroom growing course on his homestay farm. Highly rated by the members on this board, and in fluent English as I can qualify.

3. Any advice if this is a relatively easy task to do, I have a decent brain and so does she.

Starting up any venture is easy to do....put money in....lose it. Easy. Successful mushroom growing is not easy. I'm in my second season and we have just broken even at week 14. (Don't ask about our first season)

I figure by the end of this run we will have made a 30% profit....barring disasters in the next few weeks.

4. Any dangers or pitfalls of entering into this business?
Entering it is a pitfall. Expect to lose money in the first 6 months. The learning process is fraught....people will tell you this...other.people will tell you that...I will tell you something else.... "water on the floor" "don't water on the floor", "Don't water in the bags", "water in the bags".....
"Take the plastic inserts out", "Take the fronts off".........Take your brain out and lobotomize yourself...Oh, wait.

5. Would I be better trying to sell on to an agent if this project were successful or word of mouth locally?

For 5000 bottles, sell locally. Wholesale is for when you get past the stage where you can't sell what you produce. Even then I would urge you to sell cheaper and miss out the middleman.
Our customer sell for 100 Baht per kilo, buying from us at 50/45 Baht at the Talat nat.

Set up a local stall somewhere and double your profits.

6. How long does it take to get a crop yield from start to finish please?

Depends what mushrooms you take on. Start with the easiest ones first. Oysters..20 weeks.

There is no experience like experience. Try it for yourself. 50,000 Baht. (max)

10/12 K Baht for the house,35,000 for 5K bottles 5,000 Baht expenses.....elec, water etc.

Don't buy any land. Rent it.
Watch 'yer arse.
?
'And.....Good luck.

,

Hi Teletiger, what do you mean by waterproof roof. What should i use please ?

[thoongfoned]

when we did the mushroom house we used black plastic,good stuff(have differents grades/prices), if you buy by the roll 125cm ish wide 100m lenght 5000/6000 baht depending were you buy. we used this on the roof and all sides, sort if rapped it around all the bamboo, makes it very hot in there... alot of the large builder merchants will stock the black plastic and sell it by the metre lenght, used as damp course. or like us as a sub ceiling in a farm building for animals.

[noopin2014]

4 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

when we did the mushroom house we used black plastic,good stuff(have differents grades/prices), if you buy by the roll 125cm ish wide 100m lenght 5000/6000 baht depending were you buy. we used this on the roof and all sides, sort if rapped it around all the bamboo, makes it very hot in there... alot of the large builder merchants will stock the black plastic and sell it by the metre lenght, used as damp course. or like us as a sub ceiling in a farm building for animals. 

sorry i''m not sure to understand what do you mean, using black plastic for the roof is hotter than the leaf ?

[thoongfoned]

have you ever worked/or been in a poly tunnel?

the plastic will let the heat in and not let alot out, the leaf or grass roof will let heat in and out, same will the shade netting. on a cheap sala people tend to use the grass roof as cooler then say a tin roof?

try sit under a grass/leaf roof, then try a plastic roof or even cheap tin roof.

[noopin2014]

6 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

have you ever worked/or been in a poly tunnel?

the plastic will let the heat in and not let alot out, the leaf or grass roof will let heat in and out, same will the shade netting. on a cheap sala people tend to use the grass roof as cooler then say a tin roof?

try sit under a grass/leaf roof, then try a plastic roof or even cheap tin roof.

I think so, thanks ??