“We’re now doing wood-loving species.”
This includes pink and grey oyster mushrooms, and pekepeke-kiore - a native cousin of the lion’s mane mushroom, which are grown in existing grow rooms at the Havelock North site.
They are also trialling growing enoki and shitake mushrooms.
The different growing requirements have meant a change in operations, McNabb said.
“It’s a big shift. No more big wooden trays we’re growing on.
“I do a supplement of sawdust blend in a big ribbon blender, then we bag them up and sterilise them and then we add our spore and innoculate.
“When that’s ready they go into the grow room from there.”
He said they were still working to “dial in our growing rooms” to suit the New Zealand native mushroom but everything else was growing well.
Earlier this month, he opened the on-site store for the first time, though with a still “limited supply” and just on Thursdays and Fridays between 3pm and 5.30pm.
McNabb hoped to be able to supply farmers’ markets and supermarkets in the near future.
- RNZ
