Re: [Rose-list] ?mushroom? compost

**J*@aol.com**

In a message dated 5/12/99 10:45:05 PM Central Daylight Time, elle@europa.com 
writes:

<<  are as many versions of this vague description as there are places 
 >>
I agree, Elle, there are many kinds. I thought I'd try this hightly touted 
stuff in my window boxes a few years ago...hmmm...here's what I got:

Went to our local garden mart and picked up  four or five 50# bags of 
"mushroom compost". I was told it was composted horse manure that had been 
used to grow mushrooms (evidently the compost is replaced after each batch of 
mushrooms is harvested and is then bagged and sold as it's still richly 
nutritious for other purposes). As I scooped it into my boxes, I came across 
pieces of styrafoam coffee
cups, rusty nails, band-aids and various other unidentifiable pieces of 
debris. This alone was repugnant enough, but then as the top layer of soil in 
the boxes dried out
a bit it began to have an nasty odor and formed a thick crust that I never 
could get rid of and the plants did no better than with the traditional 
additions. Never bought it again and now just amend the previous years soil 
with aged manure and all's doing 
beautifully, and without any odor nor a crust.

Buyer beware.  Joanie, Z.5a

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