If you’re looking to enhance the soil in your garden, you’re likely weighing the modern top soil improvers available and deciding what is the best option.
You may have heard the term mushroom soil, and might be searching for a comparison of this and compost to assess what is better for your garden.
There are three main areas that mushroom soil and compost differ – the price, the location of compost, and the NPK ratio of compost. The two soils can provide different benefits so we will discuss the compost garden soil compared to mushroom soil.
Difference 1 – Price
When you think about soil improvers, cost is probably one of the most relevant factors when weighing options, especially if you’re covering a large space.
If you were improving a minor portion of the garden, you would likely take a hit on the high cost of material, but of course, it should be a consideration if you’re doing a large space.
Mushroom soil would generally be one of the cheap options.
It is essentially a ‘waste’ product (assuming, of course, you are buying a spent mushroom soil) and even if it hasn’t been used, it is rarely very expensive.
Compost on the other hand will be considerably more expensive.
You should anticipate pricing that is considerably more expensive for compost because it was made specifically with the intention of being compost.
Even though compost, in the case of garden waste that has been composted, takes into account the decomposition of food waste or other food matters, it has a value, again, compost is made with the intention of enhancing the quality of your garden.
You will very unlikely consider compost that is less than the cost of mushroom soil, so keep this in mind when you are comparing them.
Your call! If cost really is critical, mushroom soil may win the comparison.
Difference 2 – Nutrients
Sure, just because mushroom soil is cheaper doesn’t mean it is better quality, quite often it is the opposite.
But with all products, there is variation, so you could find some mushroom soils that are great quality, and some compost that is very low quality.
But generally compost is more nutrient dense in terms of main ingredients. Compost includes many different ingredients to give the plants much more value.
Mushroom soil on the other hand has had most nutrients leached from it and really doesn’t add much especially because the ingredients are limited.
It is made from manure, gypsum, lime, straw, and other ingredients like corn cobs. It doesn’t have many ingredients that augment it nutritionally. There also is a substantial amount of chalk which makes it very alkaline.
Generally speaking, if you want to give your plants great nutrients than compost is the way to go. Most kinds of compost contain higher value nutrients and will help your plants grow.
What to Expect: In general, mushroom soil has very few if any nutrients, so it wont really give much to the plants.
Difference 3 – Salt Content
One of the really key things for you to consider when weighing up mushroom soil vs compost, is the salt content and all the different variations of mushroom soil.
A lot of low-quality mushroom soils are very high in salt, and the biggest downside of using any soil such as this, is the amount of salt it contains. You must be cautious about the quantity of mushroom soil you are using on your plants.
You can wash some of the salt off the soil by thoroughly rinsing the soil and allowing all the water to drain away. This will remove much of the salt content of the soil, but it’s not a very reliable method, you’re probably best to either buy a low salt mushroom soil or use regular compost.
If you’re using mushroom compost use it in small quantities, and do not use it on any salt sensitive plants, such as azaleas.
Best option: You can use a combination of mushroom soil and compost to fertilize your plants. This is often a happy medium, as you get the cheaper price of mushroom soil, and you also get some assurance that you will not develop large quantities of salt in your garden.
Difference 4 – Alkalinity
Mushroom soil has a lot of chalk in it.
If you buy mushroom soil you will likely see pieces of chalk in the soil and that gives the overall pH value a very high score.
Compost is usually mildly alkaline but not nearly as alkaline as mushroom soil.
It tends to be between six and eight so it can be acidic at times, especially if acidic ingredients have been added when making the compost.
Compost just made is usually more acidic and it becomes more alkaline with time.
Which one will give greater benefits really depends on what you are growing, some plants like acidic soil and some prefer alkaline.
So it is wise to look at what pH value your plants require and use more mushroom soil or compost accordingly.
Tools To Use: You should do this alongside the use of a soil testing kit to measure the pH of your existing soil. This will help you decide whether you use more mushroom soil or compost.
Difference 5 – Nitrogen Content
Mushroom soil is usually really low in N, especially spent soil.
Once spent soil has gone through the mushroom production process it is typically cheaper, but you may have to apply nitrogen based fertilizer to balance it, which does increase the cost.
Most plants need quite a bit of nitrogen, and if you only provide mushroom soil, the plant will not thrive.
Noticed: Plants that are lacking nitrogen will produce pale green or yellow leaves and are not able to produce enough chlorophyll to grow healthy.