[pbs] Fertiliser-mushroom compost
lamon ready
lamonready at hotmail.com
Mon Mar 30 00:52:24 EDT 2009
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 at lists.ibiblio.org
> From: janemcgary at 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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