[pbs] Fertiliser-mushroom compost
Jane McGary
janemcgary at earthlink.net
Sun Mar 29 18:25:07 EDT 2009
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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