SA Mushrooms is a leading South Australian mushroom grower. The compost used to grow these mushrooms is vital, providing the goodness from which the mushrooms flourish. When the mushrooms have finished cropping, what remains is an ideal potting-mix, garden mulch and soil conditioner for any home garden, vineyard or market garden.

Mushroom compost is environmentally friendly. It is organic, recycles waste and saves water.

"Mulching your garden is equivalent to halving your weekly watering. It means you can have both a lush garden and practice water conservation." – Sydney Water Managing Director, Paul Broad.

How to use mushroom compost in a new garden bed.

1. Spread mushroom compost on the soil surface

2. Incorporate the compost into the top 10 to 30cm of soil

3. Allow about 1 week for compost to settle and blend with the solid

4. Sow the seeds or transplant the plants

5. Water well initially

You save water with mushroom compost because it:

· Stores up to 70% of its own weight in water

· Improves transmission of water through the soil

· Keeps the soil cooler in warmer weather and increases soil resistance to both wind and water erosion

Mushroom compost is a scientifically developed recipe of recycled organic ingredients such as: stable bedding (including manure), wheat straw, poultry litter and cotton seed hulls which are pasteurised to kill any harmful bacteria.

Mushroom compost is great for;

· Most flowering plants

· Trees and shrubs

· Vegetable gardens and herbs

· Establishing lawns

· Not recommended for some native plants and acid-loving plants such as azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons

Mushroom compost:

· Provides plant nutrients

· Helps soil hold water

· Changes soil pH levels

· Promotes seedling growth

A recent three year research program by the Victorian Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that mushroom compost:

· Contains almost all nutrients needed for good plant growth

· Supplies the nutrients slowly

· Aids seedling emergence

· Improves the structure of the soil

· Conserves soil moisture

· Produces no harmful decomposition products

Typical analysis

pH

6.9

Electrical conductivity

11.0

Dry matter

50.5%

Organic carbon

28.0%

Nitrogen (dry weight)

1.8%

Phosphorus (dry weight)

0.8%

Potassium (dry weight)

1.6%

Other organic material

17.3%

Manganese

137.0ppm

Copper

17.0ppm

Zinc

68.0ppm

Boron

10.0ppm

Carbon: Nitrogen ratio

31.0