Black Cow, Mushroom, or ??????

[ContainerTed]

Went garden store hopping today and came back with a question for the real experts. Lowes has Black Cow composted manure, and I noticed that they also have Black Velvet Mushroom Compost. The ingredients in the Black Velvet listed only Mushroom Compost (100%) and had a NPK equivalent of .5-.5-.2 . It was priced at $4.57 per 40 lb bag. Now, whatever I end up buying, I will be using to amend my leftover potting mix from last year (I'll actually only be reusing about half of last years leftovers)

So here's my question. Would it be better to go with only Black Cow, only Black Velvet, or a combination of both?

Now, I am not 100% organic, and probably never will be, but I do tend to "lean" in that direction.

I'd appreciate some opinions here.

Ted

[arwmommy]

I tend to be wary of Big Box store cow manure, as they likely get it from factory farms. This kind of manure is probably loaded with antibiotics, wormers, pesticide feed residue, and who knows what else. Even if it has been "aged" I have significant reservations about what is left in the manure I put on my veggies.

I would be happy-- no, thrilled--- to get manure from a local farmer who pastures his cattle, and treats them well, so I am not against using cow manure, I am just skeptical of Big Box Bags of it.

I personally would go with the mushroom mix, and locate a neighbor with a horse/cow/sheep/goats/chickens for the animal manure.

JMHO.

[stormymater]

isn't mushroom mix aged/composted manure? I thought that's what buttons/cremini were grown on!

[arwmommy]

Well, I know some mushroom compost is rice hulls with compost. (that may contain manure, too, I would imagine). I suppose whether I woul duse it or not would depend on what the "mushroom compost" was made of.

[Jack Daniels]

Hello,
I think with store bought items, black cow is going to be your best bet of the choices. I have used black cow manure and liked it. I have not used black cow velvet. I have and do use mushroom compost and like it very much. I haven't noticed anything "bad" from the usage.

I did some research years back trying to get info on mushroom compost and usage in the vegetable garden. All I got was mixed reviews. I haul gravel for a living and have the means to haul 24 yards at a time. Locally, composted horse manure starts around 18 dollars a yard wholesale. There is a mushroom plant outside of Gonzales Texas that sells their spent compost. You can buy 1 yard or a thousand yards, your choice. Pull up in a pickup, or trailer, and they will load what you want. I wanted the compost info because I could buy the compost for 6 dollars a yard. this was a lot cheaper than 18 bucks when you are talking about 24 yard purchase. They supplied me with info on the compost that included the ingredients and the NPK levels. Because there are a lot of chicken farmers in the area, their compost uses chicken manure and not horse manure. OK, all the above doesn't help you since you don't live near Gonzales, but just wanted to give you some back ground info on why I use mushroom compost.

I don't think you can go wrong with either of the black cow products. They are kinda expensive compared to the other stuff on the same aisle, but you get what you pay for.

Glenn

[stormymater]

That's a great deal Glenn! Wish we had mushroom growing operations 'round here! Heck, I'm yearning for a nice home beer brewer for some leftover wort! In the meantime I'll continue to pick up a pickup load of horse biscuits & stable sawdust every week or so for a few more months.
I've used Black Cow with good results while living in PNW.
Been burned with some big box compost blends - full of sand, the last thing I need is sand! So now I make my own. Thanks to Freecycle!

[dice]

How mushroom compost is made:
http://www.food-from-the-garden.com/...m-compost.html

(Your container plants will probably not see a big difference in
nutrients between the two, but there may be differences in
air space and water-holding capacity.)