Re(2): Spent mushroom soil

[Glenna Rose]

>You might check: > > you. That was very informative. No wonder mushrooms are so

expensive in the stores!

Glenna

[simy1]

not really. Growers routinely achieve efficiencies over 100% (weight of produced mushrooms versus dry weight of soil). But they are labor intensive, and very perishable. Supermarket mushrooms are terrible - definitely one veggie worth growing, specially considering that homegrowing is not labor intensive.

[Pat Meadows]

Yep. It's my understanding that almost all the mushrooms grown commercially in the USA are grown in Southeastern PA - and I believe they are grown in old coal mines.

The Delmarva Peninsula is a very large chicken/egg producing area and it wouldn't be far to truck the chicken manure component to the mushroom-growing area - so maybe that's where they get the chicken manure part of the compost.

Pat

[SugarChile]

No coal mines in this part of the state. There are a fair number of natural limestone caves, where mushrooms were once grown, but they are now grown in climate controlled mushroom houses, which are partially underground. The industry is centered here mainly because it started here and mushroomed from there.....It's a tricky way to make a living; the canned mushroom market, which used to be a staple, has withered due to foreign competition, and producers have had to switch to marketing fresh, specialty mushrooms.

Here's an article, long and slightly technical, but quite interesting. It goes into detail about compost production. Many of the mushroom farms are now surrounded by encroaching suburbs, with residents that complain about the smells.

Sue [e-mail] Zone 6, Southcentral PA

[zxcvbob]

SugarChile wrote: > ...Many of the mushroom farms are

Stupid city folk moving out to the country next to an existing farm and complaining about because it doesn't smell like a fabric softener commercial.

Bob

[Mike Stevenson]

It's becuase of money I'm sure. A county can get a crap load more taxes out of putting 4 or 5 single family homes on an acre over what they can get from a farm...

[Pat Kiewicz]

Penny wise and pound foolish, though. The 4 or 5 single family homes will demand far more in services than the farmer ever will -- more than their taxes will cover, usually.

[Mike Stevenson]

[Noydb]

Aromas are 'learned'. I live near Livonia, MI and there is a full-tilt turkey farm inside city limits yet it is rated among the most desireable cities in America to live in.

Bill