The course which basically comprised lectures and demonstrations
started with a talk by the tall, thin, long-haired Nandakumar Kamat.
His first question was: "What do you want to cultivate mushrooms for?
Kitchen gardening, small scale production or large scale export?"
Depending on your objectives you can decide on the variety and the
quantity, he told us. His talk included slides of different varieties
of mushrooms, poisonous and non poisonous.
The talk was lengthy but very interesting. It ended well past lunch
time and most of the participants including myself were happy to go
straight to a meal at the FTC canteen where a delicious fish curry
thali could be purchased for just Rs.6.
The second session began at three in the afternoon. There were two
talks in this session, the first by a scientist from the ICAR who spoke
on pests and diseases that attack mushrooms. Among the problem areas he
mentioned insects, fungi, bacteria and improper management.
Unfortunately most of the remedies he suggested were limited to
spraying of insecticides and pesticides such as lindane, malathion
dichlorose, copper sulphate or citronella oil. To be fair, he also laid
stress on proper management and hygiene as an effective way to reduce
diseases. Since none of us had ever grown mushrooms before there were
not many questions or doubts raised at the end of his lecture.
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