DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATIC AIR BLAST WATERING MACHINE FOR MUSHROOM GROWING

Watering operation for oyster mushroom growing houses is regarded as drudgery and time consuming farm operation for growers. Most of mushroom growing beds in oyster mushroom growing houses are designed as two-row with four floor beds, therefore the watering and ventilation between the bed floors are much difficult for farmers because of its structural design. The study aimed to reduce the watering operation and improve the mushroom growing environment through the humidification and air supply on mushroom growing beds. Results showed that appropriate size of nozzle is between 0.8~0.5ml/s for the humidification and higher than the 2.0ml/s for the watering. The optimum water supply pressure was regarded as between 1.0~2.0MPa and the uniform distribution of droplet on the bed showed on air flow speed of 14m/s. The prototype was equipped with twin nozzle with. the humidification nozzle of 0.85ml/s and watering nozzle of 5.0ml/s, and the air blast fan with the air speed of 10m/sec in each air spout. In the field test in a practical scale mushroom growing house, it was well operated dependant on the set desire by a electric control unit. The machine can be practically used as air blast watering and air blast humidification for oyster mushroom growing farms without manual.