Fertiliser-mushroom compost

lamon ready lamonready@hotmail.com
Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:52:24 PDT
 i've been using mushroom compost for about 5 years now. for nursery pots i put plain ground bark (southern pines) in the bottom. then i put some shume compost in, then either potting mix, or the waste material from my friend. the waste material is some of everything there. it looks mainly like rich dirt. i then put the bulbs or rhizomes.in, and depending on depth, more waste and then plain ground bark on top. i use this on all my bulbs / iris in pots - which is most of them. so  far, so good. i have arthritus and fibromalagia, so pots are easier on me.

 the m. compost doesn't seen to help roses grow. dissapointing.

 

lamon ready in cairo, ga.







 


 

> Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:25:07 -0700
> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
> From: janemcgary@earthlink.net
> Subject: Re: [pbs] Fertiliser-mushroom compost
> 
> I use very aged, screened steer manure in the garden and vegetable 
> garden but not on my bulbs or alpines.
> 
> The organic component of my bulb planting mixture is topsoil that I 
> dig up in my woodland, preferably under alder trees (deciduous and 
> nitrogen-fixing) and put through a fairly coarse sieve. I pick out 
> any visible live insects, centipedes, etc. There are, obviously, 
> microorganisms of many kinds in this humus (and seeds, but there are 
> few introduced weeds in the woods), but I haven't noticed any 
> mushrooms coming up in the pots or any rotting. I also use a soluble 
> chemical fertilizer 4 times a year on the potted bulbs. This has been 
> effective and seems safe. I repot the bulbs every other year into 
> freshly mixed soil.
> 
> One thing that I avoid is using any kind of bark with bulbs. The 
> microorganisms that break down bark and wood chips also appear to 
> attack the tunics of bulbs, and probably other tissues when they're 
> dormant in summer. You can see the white filaments (mycelia) in the 
> bark and also on the non-growing underground parts of plants. Bark is 
> the main ingredient in commercial potting mixes in this region 
> (Pacific Northwest), meaning that I can't just order a truckload of 
> mixed soil and, every summer, have to mix some cubic meters by hand.
> 
> I will now be told that lilies grow fine in bark mix, and they do. I 
> think this is because (a) they don't have tunics, and (b) they are in 
> growth in summer, when the bark-eating organisms are active, and do 
> not attack the actively growing lilies. Most of my bulbs, however, 
> are dormant in summer.
> 
> I stopped using chicken manure in the garden because a couple of 
> loads I bought had dead chickens in them, to the disgusting delight 
> of my Malamutes. I've never used horse manure because of the 
> well-known weed problem. Mushroom compost was the preferred amendment 
> when I started the garden, but when we got more information about its 
> drawbacks, I quickly stopped using it.
> 
> Jane McGary
> Northwestern Oregon, USA
> 
> 
> 
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