Mushroom compost is a wonderful addition to your gardening efforts and a great addition to the garden soil. It makes your plants strong, healthy and protected from disease.
Mushroom compost is a slow-release, organic plant fertilizer. It is made by mushroom growers using organic materials such as hay, straw, corn cobs and hulls, and poultry or horse manure. Since the mushroom growing process varies slightly between individual growers, mushroom compost ingredients may differ here and there.
It also raises the soils alkaline content and it is rich in calcium. Your tomato plants will be vulnerable to Blossom end rot if the level of calcium in the soil is not high enough, so getting this additive in there early will help protect your crop.
When you use mushroom compost to create a compost tea, it can be used to spray tomato plants to protect them from many bacteria and diseases. This is a natural way to protect your plant against things like leaf mold in some varieties.
You can use mushroom compost on top of the soil to create a mulch layer which will also trap moisture and protect your plants and, as mentioned above, you can create a tea by dumping a trowel full of compost into a bucket of water and letting it stew for a day or two.
There are several uses for mushroom compost;
- soil amendment for lawns, gardens, and container plants
- raises the soils alkaline content
- rich in calcium
- reasonably inexpensive
- enriches the soil and supplies nutrients for the healthy growth of plants
- increases the water-holding capacity of the soil, which decreases your watering needs
- suitable for most garden plants.
To get the greatest results when organic gardening with mushroom compost, thoroughly mix it in with the garden soil prior to planting or allow it to sit over winter and apply in spring.
