When preparing your mushroom beds, get the best quality of fresh horse manure you can, and sufficient quantity for the amount of beds you wish to make. Next get it into suitable conditions for making up the beds. This can be done out of doors or under cover of a shed. Out of doors the manure is under the drying influence of sun and wind, and it is also liable to become over wetted by rain, but under cover we have full control of its condition. All the manure for beds between July and the end of October is prepared out of doors on a dry piece of ground, but what is used after the first of November, all through the winter, is handled in a shed open to the south.
When enough manure has accumulated for a bed, prepare it in the following way: Turn it over, shaking it up loosely and mixing it all well together. Throw aside the dry, strawy part, also any white “burnt” manure that may be in it, and all extraneous matter. Do not throw out any of the wet straw. We should aim to retain all the straw that has been well wetted in the stable. If the manure is too dry do not hesitate to sprinkle it freely with water. Then throw it into a compact oblong pile about three or four feet high, and tread it down a little. Leave it undisturbed until fermentation has started briskly, which in early fall may be in two or three days, or in winter in six to ten days, then turn it over again, shaking it up thoroughly and loosely and keeping what was outside before inside now, and what was inside before toward the outside now; if there are any dry parts moisten them as you go. Trim up the heap into the same shape as you had before, and again tread it down firmly. This compacting of the pile at every turning reduces the number of required turnings. We should endeavor to get along with as few turnings as possible, so as not to waste ammonia. At the same time, never allow any part of the manure to burn, even if we have to turn the heap every day.
These turnings should be continued until the manure has lost its tendency to heat violently, and its hot, rank smell is gone, — usually in about three weeks. If the manure, or any part of it, is too dry at any turning, the dry part should be sprinkled with water and kept in the middle of the heap. The greatest vigilance should be observed to guard against over moistening the manure; far better fail on the side of dryness than on that of wetness.
If the manure is too wet to begin with it should, be spread out thinly and loosely and exposed to sun and wind to dry. If the manure cannot be dried enough, add dry loam, dry sand, dry half rotted leaves, dry peat moss, dry chaff, or dry finely cut hay or straw, and mix together.
The proper condition of the manure, as regards to dryness or moistness, can readily be known by handling it. Take a handful of the manure and squeeze it tight; it should be unctuous enough to hold together in a lump, and so dry that you cannot squeeze a drop of water out of it.
Different growers have different ideas of preparing manure for mushroom beds, but the aim of all is to get it into the best possible condition with the least labor and expense.
Author Resource:
Jackson Forrest is a mushroom growing enthusiast and runs the popular http://www.MushroomGrowingSecrets.com website where he offers the best-selling ebook "How to Grow Mushrooms for Fun and Profit". Get your copy today!
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