Myco-vermicomposting article
The Mad Bioneer, over in Arizona, has a fascinating post on combining vermicomposting with mycoculture, or the raising of mushrooms. I’ve raised mushrooms briefly, but only for food, not for composting purposes. It looks liek worms and mushrooms complement each other, at least when your primary material is wood chips. The mushrooms can break down the wood chips, and the worms can eat what’s broken down, as well as the mycelium (mushroom ‘roots’).
He also shares lessons. He talks about what you can expect in terms of mushroom production:
The worms will reduce the number of mushrooms you get from the wood chips by at least half. I don’t think they can really get into the log to steal from there. They eat the mycelium, weakening the mycelium and reducing its ability to produce mushrooms. So if you are doing it for mushroom production, have more of a two-bin system. Let the mushrooms grow alone on the wood chips first, then let the worms have a crack at it to finish it off. If you try the worms first and then the mycelium, the worms get a lovely snack and you get no mushrooms at all. I tried inoculating a worm bin with some mushroom spawn that I didn’t really have plans for. I came back a few days later to see if it had taken off and it was completely gone. The worms had eaten it.
Watch out for those red wigglers! They eat everything.
And also about what he thinks the soil nutrition content is for the broken down wood chips (not too balanced):
Lately some of my plants in the compost have been kind of pathetic looking. I think it might be due to the nutrient content of the soil. After all, it was made from pure wood chips. I haven’t had a chance to test the soil, but my guess is that it is a little low in nitrogen at least and possibly potassium and phosphorus. I would recommend the addition of a good organic rock-based fertilizer regularly with the various layers of organic matter that you add. The rock-based fertilizer, such as greensand for potassium and rock phosphate for phosphorus, will have more staying power in the soil than the quick-fix type fertilizers. I don’t know of a rock-based source of nitrogen, so I use blood meal. They will also be good for the mushrooms that you get in there, as they are used to breaking down rock for minerals. A little sand or pea gravel in the layers might also be good to help out the soil structure. Of course, ignore this if you are composting in one place and using the compost elsewhere.
This makes sense. The redworms can turn nutrients into different, more accessible forms, but, as I mention in my post about sending my worm castings to a soil lab, the chemical contents of your bin depend on what you put into it. Earthworms aren’t alchemists!
Regardless, this sounds like an adventure in composting. Definitely read the whole article. I also enjoyed one of his other articles about mycorrhizal fungus.
Add comment October 26th, 2009
