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Mushroom Compost questions
- Thread starter Jon
- Start date
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vonforne
Check out my thread "An Organic Grow" I use Mushroom compost for a lot of things and as a primary soil amendment. You do have to be cautious of the amount because of the chalk they use in it. It will make you soil slightly alkaline. I love the stuff. I use it also in my teas. I can not look at this one you have because I do not want to sign up for image host but it most likely contains the standard ingredients of other Mushroom composts available.
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vonforne
Sorry I didn't get back before now. No, mine has not been sterilized.
B1 and Suby covered the rest of the answer.
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B1 and Suby covered the rest of the answer.
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the undertaker
Member
i just mixed 16 gallons of pro mix hp with 2.5 gallons of perlite added and 15 kg of mushroom compost. i put 55 tbs of dolomite lime, should i add more von because of that alkaline issue you had?
i ammended this with bone, blood, and kelp meal. it has water polymer crystals in it too (outdoors, less watering, less trips and has same qualities of perlite... to a degree
)
55tbs x 15ml / 250ml = 3.3 cups of dolomite lime is in that mix. i did 2 tbs/ gallon of mix and added a few extra for the mushroom shit. do you think i should add more?
i ammended this with bone, blood, and kelp meal. it has water polymer crystals in it too (outdoors, less watering, less trips and has same qualities of perlite... to a degree
)55tbs x 15ml / 250ml = 3.3 cups of dolomite lime is in that mix. i did 2 tbs/ gallon of mix and added a few extra for the mushroom shit. do you think i should add more?
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vonforne
the undertaker said:i just mixed 16 gallons of pro mix hp with 2.5 gallons of perlite added and 15 kg of mushroom compost. i put 55 tbs of dolomite lime, should i add more von because of that alkaline issue you had?
i ammended this with bone, blood, and kelp meal. it has water polymer crystals in it too (outdoors, less watering, less trips and has same qualities of perlite... to a degree
55tbs x 15ml / 250ml = 3.3 cups of dolomite lime is in that mix. i did 2 tbs/ gallon of mix and added a few extra for the mushroom shit. do you think i should add more?
No don't add more lime. The chalk raises the ph also as does the lime. Stay at the standard amount since you are growing outside.
this is the brand I use B1. I can get it Organic or just mushroom compost at Lowes. I try and pick up the torn bags for 1/2 price.
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the undertaker
Member
ok thanks von. i always mistake basic and alkaline vice versa etc.
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DJ_highst_
Jon- did you say you are paying for the mushroom compost? I live in Nor Cal and MC can be found for free quite easily. I picked up several cubic yards and had it loaded from me with rear loader for free.
I would definatly make sure to let it sit and cool down for a few weeks or month before planting and mix I mix about 30% MC/ 30-40% large chunck perlite and the rest high quality soil (FFOF, black gold or Happy frog)
From my understanding, when they say steam sterlized that means it was done before the farm grew their mushroom crop bc mushrooms need sterile growing conditions and they have to let the MC sit for 2 years before it can be re-used and given away to the public, to let all the chemical leach out. Correct me if I am wrong, but this was how I understood it. Good luck bro. I have had great success with MC. peace-highst
I would definatly make sure to let it sit and cool down for a few weeks or month before planting and mix I mix about 30% MC/ 30-40% large chunck perlite and the rest high quality soil (FFOF, black gold or Happy frog)
From my understanding, when they say steam sterlized that means it was done before the farm grew their mushroom crop bc mushrooms need sterile growing conditions and they have to let the MC sit for 2 years before it can be re-used and given away to the public, to let all the chemical leach out. Correct me if I am wrong, but this was how I understood it. Good luck bro. I have had great success with MC. peace-highst
the undertaker
Member
that definately sounds plausible
Suby said:
What do you mean by fungal elements? If you mean the mycelium then I wouldn't want live agaricus (for example) mycelium in my soil to compete for nutes with my plants roots so by sterilizing it you get dead mycelium that can then be broken down into it's components which are good for the other beneficial fungi in your soil to feed off of because that spent mycelium contains lignin, etc. which is hard to get in regular compost.
BTW how come nobody mentioned that OP's analysis failed the fecal coliform bacteria test. Wouldn't want to be breathing, touching, etc. too much of that.
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the undertaker
Member
the main difference between mushroom compost and earth worm castings (vermicompost) is that while EWC is full of microbial life, the mushroom is full of fungal life. both have their benefits, and im not sure, but there is a post somewhere on here that goes into detail about the pros/cons of using each.
you can also brew a tea full of good fungis by substituting the EWC you normally put in with some mushroom compost. if i remember correctly, a good tea full of fungis is nice to give to the plant during flowering because of something the fungis does that makes buds more healthy or something.
you can also brew a tea full of good fungis by substituting the EWC you normally put in with some mushroom compost. if i remember correctly, a good tea full of fungis is nice to give to the plant during flowering because of something the fungis does that makes buds more healthy or something.
I am no expert of mushroom compost, but if I was to use it I would compost it in a soil mix which would kill off any spores in the heat phase of the compost.
I did notice the fecal coliform but then again manure is used in gardening often, fresh horse manure would fail a coliform test but after a few weeks composting I would mix it into my soil.
On the whole I would pass on this product one way or another.
S
I did notice the fecal coliform but then again manure is used in gardening often, fresh horse manure would fail a coliform test but after a few weeks composting I would mix it into my soil.
On the whole I would pass on this product one way or another.
S
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vonforne
Mushroom compost is a great soil building product. Besides the fungal count it has many left over nutrients. If you are re-using your soil it is a great additive because you can cut back on the peat in your mix. Which we all know is extremely acidic over time.
I like to use several different types of compost in my soils structure these days and have had nothing but good results except the fact that the Mushroom compost can be a little alkaline because of the chalk dust used in it. It did cause a temporary ph fluctuation in my soil that was easily corrected with a good dose of EWC. As you can see in my thread there is no adverse results with using Mushroom compost. I had discussed this with 3BM earlier this year. I wish he we still around, he was quite versed in its use. He seemed to rely on different types of soil amendments to balance out his soil ph and nutrient needs. If you do research on this...I have a chart some where that states all the soil amendments ph values, I think that the soil could be balanced this way. But that is mere speculation on my part.
I still rely on the dolomite lime heavily to do this for me with in the soil structure. My goal with using Mushroom compost is building a viable re-usable soil.
And in light of the new fungi uses in the flowering stage, I think it even better.
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I like to use several different types of compost in my soils structure these days and have had nothing but good results except the fact that the Mushroom compost can be a little alkaline because of the chalk dust used in it. It did cause a temporary ph fluctuation in my soil that was easily corrected with a good dose of EWC. As you can see in my thread there is no adverse results with using Mushroom compost. I had discussed this with 3BM earlier this year. I wish he we still around, he was quite versed in its use. He seemed to rely on different types of soil amendments to balance out his soil ph and nutrient needs. If you do research on this...I have a chart some where that states all the soil amendments ph values, I think that the soil could be balanced this way. But that is mere speculation on my part.
I still rely on the dolomite lime heavily to do this for me with in the soil structure. My goal with using Mushroom compost is building a viable re-usable soil.
And in light of the new fungi uses in the flowering stage, I think it even better.
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