(I have posted this picture before. Look at the plank with water marks on it. Though with high RH the plank is not infested with fungus. This is what I call good Wood.)Mr. P from Krai called me this morning .He wants to know how to get rid of fungus & mould on planks. His Swiftlet farm started operation about a year ago. Now, 70% of the planks are affected. He had taken advice from afriend who encouraged him to have waterpool, sprinkle and humidifiers in the Bh. Worse of all the humidifiers were switched on for 9 hour a day. Sighted wetting the whole building and floor is what the birds like most.
This is not new in fact 80% of Swiftlet farms are having this problem. There are many ways you could do to salvage the planks in your Bh.
But I always believe in prevention rather than cure. As the later you would waste lots of time, money and effort. Currently there are few products in the market that claimed to be effective on clearing the fungus and mould. Sincerely I have not used them as none of all my Swiftlet farms have such problem. So I dare not comment about it unless I have used it before. Perhaps you could try.
Some claimed that using ammonia powder, sand the plank down, wipe with vineger, etc….but why want to do all these things? Worse of all when the birds are ready to stay in the Bh but the planks infected with fungus preventing them to do so. Their saliva won’t stick to the planks because of the powdery surface.
My simple solution is to use good wood that could withstand high humidity and all fungus & mould problems won’t arise. If you could spend hundreds of thousands in your Swiftlet farm investment I see no reason why you wouldn’t want to use good wood. If cost is the matter then it doesn’t justify at all.
The price of the good wood is 3 times higher or more than the normal Meranti that many Bhs are using. (80% are using the normal Meranti). Even with this price sometimes I have to wait for months in order to get them. When it comes to buying good wood money is not king. There was once a BH’s owner desperately wanting to get these good woods for his new Bh. He was willing to pay premium price for it but the Sawmill unable to supply because there were no logs available.
For those Bhs that have serious mould & fungus problem reduce the Rh or if you could change the planks. A long term solution is always better. If the wood is of soft density and not dried (K.D) properly you could see mould on them within 6-12 months. Some suggested to dry the planks under the Sun before installation but that won’t help unless K.D at sawmills that have such facility.
Often many would tell you all wood planks are the same. Bear in mind not all Bhs are the same. If all planks are the same then we wouldn’t have 80% failed farm in this industry. It would have been 100% successful.
Good swiftlet farming all.
swifjames@yahoo.com 012-3173811