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Re: Organic Fertilizers

Just to add on, many of the Fayetteville gardeners are
using spent mushroom substrate with excellent results, as well.

There is a huge mushroom plant about 2-3 hours away in
Miami, OK.  The SMS is trucked over here and applied
as a soil amendment.

My impression is that the fungal biology is a key factor,
but surely there are many nutrients, humic substances, and
related growth promoting microbes and substances beneficial
for plant growth.

I prefer to use the term spent mushroom substrate than mushroom
compost.  It is not really compost in the sense that the material
has not completed breakdown, it is not finished, it is not
humified.  It is pre-digested and bioprocessed organic matter.

Nevertheless, organic matter in this condition is good for
growing plants, so Nature once again proves there are
multiple pathways and microbial millieus.

Incidentally, Fayetteville has some excellent gardeners and
gardens.  The city itself employs gardeners for the town
square, streets planters, library, and so forth.  You'd all
be impressed at the selection of plants with their textures,
colors, and patterns put together in these landscape plantings
as an example of Mid-South conditions.

Nitron.com purchases semi loads of the SMS and
re-sells it in pickup load quantities. I bought 1.5 cu. yds.
for $65. That was just right for six biointensive vegetable
garden beds at 5' x 20'. 

But this is too expensive at retail prices for my whole quarter
acre garden.

For serious quantities it is more affordable to buy a
22-ton semi-load. 

Incidentally, in Northwest Arkansas we have access to
pelletized chicklen litter that has been heat processed.  This
is affordable as an organic fertilizer on acreage basis and
many of the market gardeners and organic farmers use it.

Steve Diver
Fayetteville, Arkansas



Pat Meadows wrote:

I have used mushroom compost (spent mushroom soil) with
terrific results.  I'm lucky in that I can buy it fairly
reasonably, by the pickup truck-full.

Details: http://www.americanmushroom.org/compost.htm

Also see:
http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/garden/soil/mushroom.html

I do not use it for seed starting or for indoor plants, but
I use it for almost everything else: I use it straight for
outdoor containers and I mix it with soil for raised
planters in the garden. 

It has worked beautifully for everything I grow, with the
sole exception of carrots - I think it has too much nitrogen
for the carrots.  I find that I need no (other) fertilizer
the first year that I use it.  The second and following
years, I do add other fertilizers.

I do not know if this is 'certified organic' (but I don't
really care either as I'm not a certified organic grower).
It's certainly within the meaning of the word 'organic' as
we all knew and used it for many years before it was
co-opted by the government.

Pat




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