How to Use Mushroom Soil

Commercial mushroom growers use a special blend of soil for growing mushrooms. As the soil periodically needs replacing they often make it available to gardeners to use at home. Low in nutrients, it does have some minor fertilizer benefits, but its primary benefit is as a soil amendment to improve the tilth. Mushroom soil directly from the company has been steam sterilized so there is no problem with weed seeds, but it also does not add any microorganisms to the soil. The existing microfauna will soon colonize it, though.

Tiller

Instructions

- 1
  Add 1 to 2 inches of mushroom soil to the existing soil in the fall by merely laying it over the soil. By the spring it will have disappeared into the soil from the work of the worms and other soil inhabitants.
- 2
  Dig 1 to 2 inches into the soil when you till in the spring.
- 3
  Use as a side-dressing fertilizer around shrubs, perennials and trees. The slow-acting natural fertilizers in the mushroom soil will not burn the plants or hurt the stems if too close.
- 4
  Spread a 1-inch layer on top of the soil for container plants that have adequate drainage. The mushroom soil keeps the container soil from drying as fast as it otherwise might, which keeps the plant protected from not having enough water.

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Soil