Mushroom Compost

I see this at garden centers and I don't know what makes this different from, say, cow manure that is composted. What is mushroom compost good for? I'd appreciate any ideas from anybody who has used this stuff.
Compostly Curious,
magnolialover

I don't know if yours is made exactly the way it is here by local mushroom producer, but I can tell you what they do.

They basically mix poultry litter, urea, wheat straw, and gypsum to make composted growing medium (substrate). They then inoculate it with mushroom spores, and grow their crops. After harvesting, the spent medium is sterilized and sold as "mushroom compost". I bought several yards of it last year, and boy, was it ever sterile. I had to add lots of regular "active" compost to it to repopulate it with microorganisms. After sitting over the winter, the beds are finally ready to grow veggies nearly a year later, and I expect a good crop.

I should add that they also sell a mixture of the spent that contains some topsoil, and therefore gets active much faster than the straight stuff.

You might find it worthwhile to see if the mushroom compost available to you has a similar pedigree.


This message was edited Apr 25, 2007 11:36 PM

Magnolialover,

We have heavy clay soils in our area and use the mushroom compost to amend the soil when laying beds. We have had great success with it on the beds and with all the trees and shrubs we have planted.
Not sure of the pedigree of the mushroom compost in our neck of the woods, but I attribute much of the success of our landscaping to it.

Lisa

I haven't had much input on this one, so you two have been much appreciated. I usually use composted cow manure and compost from the house, but bought a bag of this to try and wondered what to expect. Thanks!

Mushroom compost is sawdust and manure, usually horse manure because there is lots of people using sawdust in horse stalls. I use it in large volumes 3 to 5 to one with the clay I have in Kalispell. It makes great soil after a few months (winter) to start to break down. It is free here and nobody uses it so I have all I need. Great soil builder and clay drainage maker.

My mom swears by it as a winter fertilizer. She adds a layer of mushroom compost to her perennial beds after the ground freezes and come spring her plants grow like gangbusters. So far, my DH and I are mainly building new beds in clay so we've been using composted manure only because we need so much of it and it's less expensive. $1.99 vs. $4.99 per 2 cu. ft. bags. Once we have our yard set and just need to maintain, I'll start using my mom's method and will hopefully be generating our own compost.