In article , "Zootal"
wrote:
There is a bark place down the road that sells mushroom compost and steer
compost. Is this stuff good for the garden? Can I use it like compost and
heap it on the ground around plants and trees?
STEER MANU
I like the look of steer manure because as a top-coating or mulch it's
inert so retards weeds but looks like rich loamy topsoil. If properly and
fully composted it will have a good earthy smell and is totally-totally
good stuff. If it smells poopy it's not so great, though still not likely
to be harmfully pathogenic though even the slightest risk of e-coli would
warn against using it if it smells poopy or rotten eggish.
MUSHROOM "COMPOST":
Mushroom compost isn't composted mushrooms but "spent mushroom substrate"
and whatever of the mushrooms is in it is usually not even fully
composted. It's usually "steamed" before shipped for garden use but is
frequently just not authentically a composted product. Because not fully
composted it CAN leech nitrogen from soil until it finishes breaking down,
though in general this isn't an issue as it is with bark, it has enough
nitrogen of its own to unleash some of it rather than draw out the
garden's.
Mushroom compost nutrient content is unpredictable because the content of
the spent substrate can be extremely varied. Typically it's a mixture of
such ingredients as straw, horse manure, chicken manure, peat, bark, and
lime. The lime can have effects on soil not planned for, many plants
declining due to alkalinity, far fewer plants loving alkalinity.
Commercial compost workers have also been documented to suffer severe
respiratory disease from organic mushroom compost dust exposure. Garden
use would not have such a risk but it is wise to wear a mask during
application, and not use it in arid gardens where winds might stir up dust
and spores enough to effect lungs of pets or gardeners. Never apply it if
it's dried and powdery; wet it down to 50% moisture which makes it easier
to spread and nixes potentially dangerous dust.
If it stinks of ammonia or poo, that's cuz it's got raw sewage or manure,
bad, bad. All these caveats sound like it is invariably be rotten stuff
for the garden, but it's by and large okay, and mainly you have to
consider the issue of it having lime in it and it has to pass the stink
test and should smell more like autumn leaves than crap. If you're lucky,
the variety of content means it has the best array of micro-nutrients such
as manganese and iron and whatnot.
BARK:
Bark is terrible for sucking nitrogen out of soil. It's fine once it's
completely broken down and bark's a totally reasonable component of fully
composted product, but as chunks of bark uncomposted, the guarantee it
will subtract nigrogen from the soil has to be considered. A little bark
will encourage beneficial fungus and some shrubs such as vacciniums or
dogwoods really like the extra fungus; huckleberries in particular even
prefer the lowered nitrogen in favor of heightened fungus. For most
gardens it's a poor choice of mulch since depleting the nitrogen slows the
growth of most perennials and annuals. If there's reason to WANT the soil
to be poor for growing (because nothing will ever be planted there) then
these points won't matter.
My favorite of the three is definitely well-composted manure (steer or
dairy or chicken or zoo doo), the steer being generally cheapest and
having many positive points and very little against it. Chicken manure
has twice as much nitrogen as does steer manure, and steer has more
nitrogen and potasium than dairy manure, but as a top-coating at least
it's all the same as it is fairly inert unless mixed up with soil at which
point manure composts feed the microorganisms that produce the nitrogen
and other nutrients.
-paghat the ratgirl
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