Mushroom Compost?

[FarmerGreen]

I was looking around for some compost for the garden and found a guy that has used mushroom compost for sale. I've never grown mushrooms so I'm not sure how mushroom compost differs from regular. The mushroom farmer has already used it and sold it off. Would this be good compost for a veggie garden? He wants $100 for a pickup truck load.

[june02bug]

Mushroom compost is great. It is actually a soil-less mix.

[Sand Flat Bob]

Originally Posted by june02bug

Mushroom compost is great. It is actually a soil-less mix.

You should be aware that earthworms will die in Mushroom compost. They put a chemical in it to prevent anything but mushrooms to grow in the poultry manure and peat moss. We used it and quit for that reason.

Bob

[jassytoo]

We've used mushroom compost several years. It works fine for us. No problem growing veg. and we've got plenty of worms. I think 100$ a pick-up load is steep though, we pay 25$ a load .Ask about the chemicals mentioned by Bob. Our mushroom farm is organic so I'm guessing we don't have added chemicals.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by Sand Flat Bob

You should be aware that earthworms will die in Mushroom compost. They put a chemical in it to prevent anything but mushrooms to grow in the poultry manure and peat moss. We used it and quit for that reason.

Bob

The only "chemical" that is put in is lime. That's to make it alkaline, which is what the mushrooms require. As the mushrooms consume the available nutrients, the soluble salts in the manure are still there. Thus fresh spent mushroom compost may be as "hot" as fresh manure and should be considered as such when used in a garden.

I might add that it's also very low in nutrients if it's been used to the limit. There would be little or no nitrogen and that would have to be added to create a proper NPK balance in the soil.

Martin