Questions about compost for Mel's Mix

It's been difficult getting the five types of compost to make Mel's Mix because almost everything is out of stock.  I can't even order mushroom compost or wood blend compost from Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Armstrong Garden Center, etc.  I live in Orange County in Southern California.  I have found organic steer manure compost and organic poultry manure compost, organic vermicompost, and Dr Earth Organic Compost Mix.

The Dr Earth Mix ingredients are:green waste, redwood sawdust, alfalfa, fish bone meal, bone meal, feather meal, kelp meal, ecto and endo mycorrhizae, soil microbes, dolomite lime, many bacillus, and many mycorrhizae.  Peat moss is not listed in the ingredients.  The mix is only $8/cu ft.  What portion of this mix can make up my compost mix?  Vermicompost should be maximum 10% of the compost mix, correct?  What portion should the manure be?

I don't have time to make my own compost for my first 4'x4' bed.  I will use compost that I make myself for future beds.  I have enough organic coarse vermiculite and peat moss.  Thanks for any replies.

Hi, John! You don't mention how high your 4'x4' bed is, but if it is 12" high, you will only need a total of 16 cu ft of mix - or just of 5 cu ft of each the peat, vermiculite, and compost. Given the choices you have available, you could use 2 cu ft of steer manure, 2 cu ft of chicken manure, 1 cu ft of Dr Earth Mix, and 1/2 cu ft of worm castings. Those mixed with the 5.3 cu ft of vermiculite and 5.3 cu ft of peat would give you a good blend to start with.

HI jOHN, I realize you mention time is not on your side for making compost... I look back 10 years ago when I began SFG. Knowing what I do know, and it is quite limited except for experience, I would forgo my attempt for SFG until my compost was done and ready to go. However I was extremely fortunate in that my local recycle center made compost all year. Machinery turned it over and worked it until springtime when it was finished. Then it was offered free to the public, they just had to pick it up.
I had 5 gallon buckets, my SUV could hold 13.  I had it made however I found out compost was made from nothing but brush and last years cuttings. That told me additives were needed. I added mushroom manure, chickitty doo doo,, bio char, blood and bone meal and one other item I forgot..mixed all this in proportional quantities and did a great job for my first season with SFG. 2nd season and there after it was all my own compost that fed my plants...
Much of what is offered commercially is some companies byproduct.
These photos were all my first season in SFG.

I just purchased some horse manure compost.  The ingredients are: composted horse manure, wood shavings, and hay.  So now I have the composted horse manure mix, composted steer manure, composted chicken manure, and the Dr. Earth compost mix.

The Dr. Earth mix and the horse manure compost mix are organic. I don't remember if the steer manure compost or the chicken manure compost are organic.  The bags are at my garden plot.

What percentage of each should I use for my 4'x4'x6" raised vegetable garden bed?  If the steer or chicken manure compost is not organic should I use it?  Thank you.

Hi, John, and welcome to the forum!

All your composts together make up one third of the total volume, so if you need 16 square feet of total MM, then as long as your blended composts equal about 5.3 square feet you should be OK. It would be ideal to have 5 different kinds, but if you don't have them, 4 is better than not doing it at all, so I say go with the 4 you have.

Also, look at the horse compost. If you can still see obvious wood chips in the mix, be aware that those wood chips will need N as they decompose, thus potentially robbing your brand new MM of this N and leading to a deficiency.

(Ask me how I know.)

SO in theory, if you wanted to compensate for this, you could add more chicken which is very high in N as if it were your 5th compost, maybe.

Not "orthodox" MM per se, but like I said, it's better than nothing. HTH!

John, Rule of thumb is to limit all manure-based composts to 20-25% and worm castings to 10%. The remaining 65-70% can be Dr Earth Organic Compost Mix, in your case. Keep looking for composts. Have you tried aquaponics and "specialty plants" stores? They may have mushroom compost.

Here are a couple of links for you to try in Orange County, CA.

http://www.aguinagagreen.com/soil-amendment---compost.html

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/grd/d/buena-park-garden-supplies-sale/7316774848.html

Thanks for the links.   I made my first 4'x5'x6" bed a few days ago with the items I listed in my last post.  I was in somewhat of a rush to assemble this first bed because one rule at the community garden where my plot is located is that a plot cannot go empty for more than thirty days.  Otherwise I would have waited until I accumulated enough of my own compost from my food scraps and weeds.

I have enough room for three more 4'x5' beds.  I will use only compost that I make for future beds.  It will be interesting to compare how well this first bed does to the remaining beds with compost that is entirely made by me.  Should I amend the soil in this first bed with compost that I make?  If so, how much of my compost should I add? 

A gardener at my community garden has raised beds that are packed with plants, and she only uses horse manure both composted and not composted.  The content of her beds is 100% horse manure.  Her plants thrive , and her compost contains tons of worms.  I have also seen Youtube videos of gardeners using only horse manure compost in their vegetable gardens who swear that horse manure compost is all that is needed for a thriving vegetable garden.  So I'm thinking about adding horse manure compost to my compost in one or two future beds.  There are several warnings about using composted horse manure as compost or mulch such as it being too hot, accumulates magnesium, contains pathogens, can contain harmful pesticides, etc.  How risky is using organic composted horse manure as a compost?  Thank you.

Further to John's question about horse manure above. I read an article (here: Manure)  about a quite nasty herbicide carrying over into dairy cow manure. I had never heard of the herbicide (Aminopyralid, it is new) and its not clear if it is approved here. I have a chance at some goat manure and bedding. I have visited the farm (years ago when my son worked there part-time) and I know it is a long way from being an organic farm. (I am getting this from an old girlfriend of my Son who rents barn space for her goats).

Is this a risk?

FRED58 wrote: I had never heard of the herbicide (Aminopyralid, it is new) and its not clear if it is approved here. I have a chance at some goat

Yes, it is legal in Canada, sold as Grazon XC Herbicide.

FRED58 wrote:Is this a risk?

It may be since there is no way to know if Grazon was sprayed on grass or wheat fields unless the farmer says he does not use it. Grazon is a broadleaf herbicide widely used on pastures to kill weeds, and allow the grass to be the primary plant. Cows, horses, etc., eat the grass and pass the Grazon through in their manure. The only way to know if it is a risk, though, is to make compost from the manure and then plant seeds such as beans or peas in the compost to see if the plants curl up and wither away instead of freely growing. Unfortunately, some compost sold in various outlets may also contain the Grazon.

darn. That article was about manure from a Dairy herd. If its in the manure, how much is in the milk? Glad I take my coffee black...