Phase I Mushroom Compost

Tunnel Tech produces some 2500 tons per week of Phase I compost to meet both its own needs and for sale. Both organic and conventional composts are available from both of our sites. Our organic compost has full Soil Association accreditation.

Phase I compost for sale is produced for commercial mushroom growers who prefer to pasteurise and condition their own substrate. This is a product that requires considerable skill and knowledge on the part of the grower for successful processing.

Phase II Mushroom Compost

In the 1980s Tunnel Tech was one of the first companies to recognise the growing demand for the availability of “custom prepared compost”. Phase II compost is fully pasteurised and conditioned before dispatch in bulk or blocks (normally with mushroom spawn added by us) to professional mushroom growers around the UK.

Tunnel Tech currently produces and sells around 750 tons per week of both organic and conventional Phase II compost, which is produced at both our Yorkshire and Hampshire sites.

Phase III compost is fully colonised by mushroom mycelium, and when dispatched to the customer is immediately ready for casing and the start of the professional mushroom growing cycle.

Tunnel Tech North Ltd is unique in its ability to supply this product to growers throughout the UK and is currently the only commercial compost facility offering Phase III compost for sale.

With sales of Phase III compost approximating 1000 tons per week, TunnelTech North has exhibited its considerable skill in constructing and managing a “state of the art” substrate production facility.

Plans have been approved for a further Phase III facility in Hampshire. With a planned capacity of 800 tons per week, this will give growers in the south of England even better supply of the “thoroughbred” of mushroom composts, whether for organic or conventional growing.

Spawn run blocks

As a half-way house for growers who want the cycling and hygiene benefits normally only available from Phase III compost, Tunnel Tech take Phase II compost in blocks and spawn run it on behalf of the grower in their dedicated spawn running facilities in Yorkshire and Hampshire, prior to dispatch to the grower’s farm.

Providing the optimal blend of water retention, pH and beneficial bacterial content, casing soils from English Casing Blenders (ECB) are designed to maximise mushroom growth.

As well as standard casing soil, ECB has developed the unique “reduced peat casing” (RPC), in recognition of government targets for peat reduction in horticulture. This remarkable product was developed and tested extensively in collaboration with Horticulture Research International and is now widely used by environmentally aware mushroom companies who still demand the highest quality and yields. ECB is exploring several opportunities to license the manufacture of RPC to companies around the world.

Utilising a by-product from the UK coal industry, ECB has been able to replicate the high density originally associated with casing soil made with deep dug peat, but replacing up to 30% of its annual peat requirement.