How to make mushroom compost
When growing champignons, mushroom growers are faced with the fact that in order to ensure full high yields, it is necessary to create a favorable microclimate, which includes not only humidity and temperature, but also compost for champignons, which in its composition is close to the natural environment.
Making compost for mushrooms
Pros of homemade compost
Self-prepared compost for mushrooms can be brought to the state to which they are accustomed in the conditions of their natural habitat. Correctly selected components and adherence to the cooking algorithm ensure the first stable mushroom yields after 3 months.
Mushrooms do not grow on ordinary soil suitable for growing vegetables and fruits.
The compost substrate, specially made for growing mushrooms, contains carbon elements necessary for nutrition and mineralized additives that are necessary for the successful growth of the culture. At the same time, the compost mixture prepared with your own hands makes it possible to save the cost of purchasing ready-made compost for mushrooms, the price of which starts from 15 thousand rubles. for 1 t.
Required components
The basis of a compost mixture suitable for growing mushrooms is mown hay or straw (wheat, rye). Sometimes, instead of straw, fallen leaves and plant residues from the garden are used.
The main requirement for straw is the absence of rot and pathogens of infectious diseases. The dried product acts as a source of carbon nutrition for mushrooms.
Other ingredients that make up the compost mixture include:
- fresh manure of various types (horse, cow, pork, sheep, rabbit, etc.) or chicken manure, which are organic sources of nitrogen,
- urea, bone meal, gypsum mixture or chalk, which are sources of mineral nutrition,
- bioactive substances that accelerate the readiness of the compost substrate.
All the ingredients included in the composition go through a composting process - the fermentation of living microorganisms, which takes time, therefore, you should prepare compost for mushrooms in advance.
Cooking algorithm
For self-preparation of compost for growing mushrooms, you will need 2 places on the site: one site will be occupied for soaking the mown hay, the other for composting. The sites are pre-asphalted (concreted) in order to avoid the contact effect of the compost mixture with the soil layer.
In the absence of a concrete site, the plot of land is covered with dense polyethylene.
They are fenced with specially made for these purposes wooden boards with a height of about 0.5 m. It varies depending on the amount of the expected volume of the compost substrate.
The quality of the compost determines the yield of mushrooms
Do-it-yourself compost for champignons is prepared in stages:
- Initially, hay or dry grass and foliage are soaked at the rate of 40 liters of water for every 10 kg of dry raw materials.
- Organic matter is carefully mixed with the soaked raw materials: manure or chicken droppings. With a large volume of compost substrate, the components are laid in layers, each of which is well compacted and spilled with water.
- For 4-5 days, the collected heap is watered abundantly in the morning and in the evening, covered with a plaster mixture on top, mixing the components by laying them out on the second platform with a pitchfork. Then the substrate is leveled and watered for another 5 days, while biodestructors are added to the irrigation water to accelerate the fermentation process.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
Biodegradants are drugs that help accelerate the decomposition of organic matter. To date, the following groups of such drugs are distinguished:
- Ready enzymes.
- Complexes of microorganisms-destructors.
The advantage of drugs based on the work of microorganisms is that they simply accelerate the processes occurring in nature. Composting, in its essence, has something in common with soil processes, but the decomposition of organic matter here is at an accelerated pace and in a concentrated manner. The use of biodestructors makes it possible to "create" compost without breaking in 2-3 months, while aerobic compost can be obtained in 6-7 months, and anaerobic compost - in 1.5-2 years. You see how biodegradable drugs shorten time intervals.
- The transfer of the compost mixture from one site to another is carried out at intervals of 5-6 days to ensure the ingress of oxygen into the inner layers for the active vital activity of microorganisms and the process of decomposition of manure with dry raw materials.
Number of components
For cooking, take the components in the following volume:
- straw - 100 kg,
- droppings and manure - 30 kg each,
- urea - 0.5 kg,
- gypsum-chalk mixture - 8 kg.
The result is a pile of at least 1.2x1.5 m in size. It is permissible to grow up to 100-150 kg of mushrooms on a self-prepared compost substrate. The compost substrate becomes suitable for planting mushrooms with mycelium after 25 days, when it acquires an ammonia smell (but not harsh) and a brown tint.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
Do you want to know if your compost is ready for use? Then pay attention to the following factors:
- the substrate is brown;
- moderately moist;
- crumbly;
- without a pungent ammonia odor.
When you squeeze some compost in the palm of your hand, the fertilizer particles should not stick to your hand, but water droplets remain on its surface. If the substrate turned out to be too wet, mix it well and leave it for 2-3 days to evaporate some of the liquid.
Attention! When making compost, you should always adhere to the proportions indicated in the recipe, and if you make an adjustment, then it must be calculated using the initial data.
Cooking time
The compost mixing technology is distributed at intervals:
- on the 1st day, the raw materials are placed on the site
- on the 7th day, the compost heap is interrupted and a plaster mixture is added,
- on the 14th and 20th days, the substrate is interrupted, watering abundantly,
- on the 25th day, the ready-made compost mixture is again interrupted, preparing for use.
For high-quality rotting of straw, foliage and grass, the ingredients are pre-crushed in a feed crusher.
On hot days, the fermentation process takes place at an accelerated pace. Such biological products as "Baikal", "Shining" and "Vozrozhdenie" can reduce the decay time of unmilled raw materials. Among the folk remedies that accelerate fermentation processes, yeast and whey are noted.
Conclusion
Self-prepared at home compost for mushrooms allows you to reduce the cost of the finished substrate and provides high-quality soil for growing mushrooms in your summer cottage. The main thing in its manufacture is to strictly adhere to the proportions of the raw materials. The average preparation time for the compost mixture is 25 days.
