Re: Roses and Soils

Linda, et al:
 
Mushroom compost is composed of hay, straw, animal manures, and various nitrogen fertilizers.
 
The salt comes from the manures (sodium salts) and the fertilizers (other salts).
 
The salt in the manures primarily comes from salt blocks used in feed lots or in horse corrals.  The animals lick these and excrete the excess into the manure.
 
The salts in the fertilizers are common in most synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (it's what causes the "burning" on lawns that are fertilized excessively or improperly).
 
I'm curious as to what "turkey compost" is?   Are turkeys raised as are mushrooms???  Or is this turkey poop mixed with coop bedding?
 
Joe

Linda Starr <mtnstar@ocsnet.net> wrote:
Dear Bill,
 
I am curious, where does the salt come from in the mushroom compost?  In another words, what type of products do the mushroom companies utilize in preparing their mushroom growing media or do the mushrooms themselves produce the salt as a byproduct or as they decompose?  I wonder if different mushroom companies utilize different combinations of compost to grow their mushrooms?  We utilized mushroom compost with the clay soils in the Foresthill area and never had a problem with it and in fact all the plants seemed to do quite well.  This was back in 1985 through 1994 and I know we got an analysis of the mushroom compost at the time but I can't recall what the analysis said.  When we couldn't get the mushroom compost any longer, we switched over to a turkey compost which we found did quite well too.
 
I have always heard that many animal based composts have a high salt content and in fact my agricultural soil testing company recommended I avoid using animal based compost at my present location based upon my soil test results.  I am wondering if the animal based composts have high nitrate content which in turn affects the sodium content in the soil?  I have recently found a source for an aged, organic, plant based compost that I have begun using.  I do have a copy of their compost analysis and it would be interesting to compare these results to some animal based compost results.
 
Linda Starr
Springville Gardens


Joe Seals
Santa Maria, California --
where the weather is always perfect
and my NEW garden will soon be blooming and full of birds and butterflies

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