Annet Takuwa, a mushroom farmer says after the gardens have been prepared, the farmer has to sterilise them.
“Sterilisation kills germs in the cotton waste,” she says.
Sterilisation of gardens
Takuwa says they use a huge metallic drum put on a hearth. It is filled with water because the sterilisation process requires hot steam. Stash wood, timber, logs inside the metallic drum.
“The wood, timber, log material have to be submerged to the water level inside the drum,” she says.
Carefully cover a sack or fibre-like material over the wood, timber and logs to form a carefully laid out base inside the metallic drum.
The cotton gardens are then laid inside the metallic drum up to the brim, then carefully covered with another sack or fibre material. The hearth is then lighted. The mushroom gardens are boiled under hot steam for four hours.
Clean place to cool down
After the sterilisation exercise, the mushroom gardens are put in a clean place to cool down.
Planting
By this time, a farmer ought to have long procured the mushroom seed materials. Once the gardens have cooled down the farmer can plant the mushroom seeds.
