Musroom Compost

JohnBoy

JohnBoy

Well-Known Member
we're working some poor land at the moment trying to remake it into a field and a lot of it has ended up with little to no topsoil, it's really just subsoil on top. (with a few tonne of stone to the acre for added fun)

I'm wondering about adding some organic matter, the field will soon have rows of trees in it as it is being planted in agroforestry and long term they will help the soil, but I'm seeing if there's anything we can do to kick start it.

Would their be any downside in blackening it with mushroom compost? how does bringing in compost normally work? do you pay for it, does the mushroom farm give it away to get rid? does anyone know any mushroom farms in a reasonable vicinity of Bandon?


index.php


I'm not really looking at this from a nutrients point of view, I know there's not really a whole lot in mushroom compost, it's the organic matter I'm after
 
JohnBoy said:
we're working some poor land at the moment trying to remake it into a field and a lot of it has ended up with little to no topsoil, it's really just subsoil on top. (with a few tonne of stone to the acre for added fun)

I'm wondering about adding some organic matter, the field will soon have rows of trees in it as it is being planted in agroforestry and long term they will help the soil, but I'm seeing if there's anything we can do to kick start it.

Would their be any downside in blackening it with mushroom compost? how does bringing in compost normally work? do you pay for it, does the mushroom farm give it away to get rid? does anyone know any mushroom farms in a reasonable vicinity of Bandon?


index.php


I'm not really looking at this from a nutrients point of view, I know there's not really a whole lot in mushroom compost, it's the organic matter I'm after
Click to expand...

We bedded with it a few years ago. It was good stuff. Did a good job on land when spread out. It was got for free - we had to draw it, but they were so glad to get rid of it that they gave us their tractor and trailer along with our own to draw it out.

I don't see any downside. I know people that did their lawns with it. Many said that t would be prone to weeds, but it wasn't.
 
Not really sure what advice to give. Grass will grow well in sand, so having little of actual organic matter mustn't be a deal breaker.
It's a pity it's already worked over, you don't want to work it too much and leave it too fine but id have thought if you could put 10000 gallons of slurry an acre on it and plough that in or a lot of farm yard manure.
If it's fine soil anyway the compost with larger particles will help keep it open, better drainage and more air which is probably most important. But if you can get a good stand of grass in it now for 3 years and plough it down not too deep and repeat you'll be naturally adding more organic matter to the soil and that will help drainage and keep it open too.
 
What kind of time scale are you looking at to improve it?

Personally I'd throw whatever I could get cheep or free onto it. Let it rot. Then repeat.
Maybe a cover crop with good routes for winter then mulch/graze it down and repeat.

Personally think if you plough it you'r back to square one with the OM as its all buried.

Perhaps someone like @Bog Man might have recomendations for a cover crop?
 
Time wise it's getting sown with grass at the end of august, and never ever being cultivated again.

Plan is to let it green up for a few weeks now, then spray it off in august before seeding.

Anything added now can be worked into the surface but that's all, it won't be getting ploughed, possibly lightly disced and levelled before being set with a power harrow drill.
 
JohnBoy said:
Time wise it's getting sown with grass at the end of august, and never ever being cultivated again.

Plan is to let it green up for a few weeks now, then spray it off in august before seeding.

Anything added now can be worked into the surface but that's all, it won't be getting ploughed, possibly lightly disced and levelled before being set with a power harrow drill.
Click to expand...
Is the soil very shallow? There is nothing to beat a plough for weeds and mixing in organic matter without making the soil structure too fine.
If you take the time now it'll pay off over the next 2 or 3 years.
 
Ya the more compost the better id say. A cover crop then grass would be ideal. What kind of ley is going in? Herbal ley? Grass legume or just grass?
 
Just grass. And birch, oak, beech and a few others. but in terms of the conventional crop it's just grass.


So, anyone know any mushroom farmers in west cork?
 
We were asked to go to Carlow for a load of mushroom compost, thankfully it never went ahead, but when we rang the lads in the mushroom place the deal was they empty out 2 mornings a week, starting at 6 and finishing at 8. No loader on site at all, you pull in under an elevator and your loaded in 2-3 minutes. They had a certain amount of trucks etc to keep them going but there was no problem getting a few load if you had a trailer there ready to go when they were. As far as I know it was free to take. I was pushing for them to get an 8wheeler to do the run but I think the whole idea faded out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top