Contractors Blend Mulch
Double Ground Hardwood Mulch
Premium Bark Mulch
Dyed Mulches
Eartmate
Playground Mulch
Screened Top Soil
Mushroom Soil
This is a popular mulch with our landscape contractors. It is more coarse than our double ground hardwood mulch. It is aged to a natural dark brown color and is fine for all flowerbed applications.
Double Ground Hardwood Mulch:
This is our most common mulch. It is a combination of approximately 50% bark and 50% wood chips. It is aged to be a dark brown color. This mulch can be used in all flowerbed applications.
This mulch is primarily all bark. The amount of wood content in this mulch is much lower than our double ground hardwood mulch. The grind is a finer consistency compared to our other mulches. Bark is naturally high in acid which is good for flowerbed soil.
Dyed Mulches…….Black, Brown
Dyed mulches are relatively new products. They have been designed to try to eliminate fading problems that are common to natural products. Dyed mulches are made up of clean wood chips that are then dyed with an iron oxide based colorant. These colorants are non toxic and are approved by DEP and EPA for use with plants. Since this mulch is primarily wood chips, it may not hold moisture as well as natural mulches. This mulch is very popular because of its color retention throughout the year.
This product is composted sludge and mulch mixed together. Other names for this product are: Earthlife, Soil Rich, etc. It is primarily a soil conditioner that can be mixed into flowerbeds or broadcasted on new lawns. It is similar to a dirt texture rather than a mulch texture. We regularly mix this product with screened top soil to achieve a more nutrient rich soil mix.
This product is made up of clean wood chips used primarily for playgrounds, swingsets or walking paths. There are no leaves, sticks or branches in this product. It has a light blonde color that is desirable for playgrounds. We recommend a depth of 3" to 6" for playgrounds.
Our top soil is screened on site from fields in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. The soil is run through a large shredding machine that removes all large rocks and sod. This soil can be used in making new flowerbeds or repairing lawns. We can mix top soil with Landscape Advantage, Mushroom Soil, or Garden Compost to create a more nutrient rich soil. Since bulk top soil is not chemically treated, grass and weed seeds can remain as part of the soil's natural composition. These seeds are invisible, but can be inherent in the soil. This in turn may cause grass or weeds to grow in your top soil after installation. When using top soil for new flowerbeds, we recommend using some type of weed barrier prior to mulching. Some examples of weed barriers are: newspapers, landscape fabric, granular weed killers. Following this procedure (along with proper mulching) should reduce the amount of grasses and weeds in your flowerbeds.
Spent mushroom compost substrate (SMS) is the soil-like material remaining after a crop of mushrooms. Spent substrate is high in organic matter making it desirable for use as a soil amendment or soil conditioner. Sometimes this material is called spent mushroom compost or mushroom soil. Below are descriptions that explain mushroom growing and the possible uses of the material.
Mushroom Growing
Compost substrate is prepared specifically for growing mushrooms and is a blend of natural products. Common ingredients are wheat straw bedding containing horse manure, hay, corncobs, cottonseed hulls, poultry manure, brewer's grain, cottonseed meal, cocoa bean hulls, and gypsum. Grower may add ground soybeans or seed meal supplements later in the production cycle. On top of the substance, farmers apply a "casing" layer, which is a mixture of peat moss and ground limestone. The casing material provides support for the growing of mushrooms.
Spent mushroom substrate still has some nutrients available for the mushroom, however it is more economical to replace the substrate and start a new crop. Before removing the spent substrate from the mushroom house, the grower "pasteurizes" it with steam to kill any pests or pathogens that may be present in the substrate and casing. This final pasteurization kills weed seeds, insects, and organisms that may cause mushroom diseases. Users may consider spent substrate clean of weed seeds and insects.
Appropriate Uses of Spent Substrate
Recycling is certainly nothing new to the mushroom industry. Substrate used to grow mushrooms is discarded organic matter from other agricultural industries. After the mushrooms are harvested, SMS can still be useful in gardens or on lawns. As a soil amendment, substrate adds organic matter, improves the soil structure and provides a few nutrients as well. Placing a layer of mushroom soil 1 - 4" thick can easily be rototilled into the soil. Thicker layers are useful as a mulch and at the end of a growing season the remaining SMS may be rototilled into the soil.
There are many appropriate uses for spent mushroom substrate. Spent mushroom substrate is excellent to spread on top on newly seeded lawns. The material provides cover against birds eating the seeds and will hold the water in the soil while the seeds germinate. Since some plants and garden vegetables are sensitive to slight increases in pH in soils, avoid using spent substrate around those plants (i.e. acid loving plants like rhododendron, azalea, evergreens). You may use spent substrate weathered for 6 months or longer in all gardens and with most plants. Obtaining spent substrate in the fall and winter, allowing it to weather, will make it ready to use in a garden the following spring. Spring and summer are the best times to use weathered material as a mulch.
As a soil amendment, spent substrate adds organic matter and structure to the soil. Spent substrate primarily improves soil structure and it does provide a few nutrients. Spent substrates is the choice ingredient by those companies making the potting mixtures sold in supermarkets or garden centers. These companies use spent substrate when they need a material to enhance the structure of a soil.
Customers who buy mushroom soil usually mix it with 50% top soil when using it to build new flowerbeds.
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