Funny thing…mulch and compost are often confused and used interchangeably. Well, depending on the “mulch” you can use it as compost. But, a lot of mulch isn’t compost. For this article I will be comparing mulch that can be used as compost and show the difference between the two.

In our area there are 3 very popular brands of…ah…compost…ah…mulch. Two of them are steer manure from Grow King…one in a blue bag, another in a brown bag. Look at the two on the right…

Yeah, from every thing I can tell they are the same…exact same. Oddly enough, both are made by Gro-Well. One is from Lowes, the other from Home Depot…imagine that. Weird…both advertise “Steer Manure”…but I’ve never identified steer manure in either. Wait for it…so it might be BS. Clever, eh?

The other bag claims “Mushroom Compost”…hey, we’ve all heard good things about that kind of material…right? Yeah, well, I didn’t see any mushrooms in it. And honestly…I wouldn’t know what to look for to identify it as mushroom compost. What I did notice…yeah, it looks REAL similar to the other two…maybe a little chunkier and a little darker but that could be just a bit more moisture. So, if it’s chunkier is it really compost…or just mulch?

And I looked over the bag…yup, made by Gro-Well. Whoa! So all three look real similar and all made by Gro-Well. Yeah, I had to do a little more research and found that all three are made as “private label” products by different companies based regionally around the country. And guess what…there is a local “green recycler” locally…and I happen to know the manager. I was out there a couple days ago…I remembered something he had said a couple months back so I asked him about “Gro-Well”. Not brain surgery…I looked at the small print on the sign by the road.

You guessed it…his “yard” or “plant” was owned by…wait for it…Gro-Well. And yes, some of his chipped and ground-up material was shipped to a Gro-Well processing plant in the state that makes…wait for it…all three products I mentioned above. And to make it even more interesting…I’ve bought compost…real compost…from his yard before. That stuff is very high quality, even had worms in it, that tells you that it’s really good stuff. Yeah, I bought some that day, was going to anyways, I need to top off my raised beds. Here’s a picture of it…

So, what am I telling you? The three different bags mentioned above are pretty much the same, if not exact. They are all organic matter and various sizes of that matter…which is a good thing. Funny, the mushroom compost bag itself has a larger size when looked at as dimensions but it still contains 1 cubic foot of material, as do all of them. The “steer manure” runs about $2.88 per bag. Odd, the “mushroom compost” runs the same…$2.88 per bag. All bags are 1 cubic foot of material.

When I bought it in bulk that day I paid $50 for one cubic yard. Probably more than a cubic yard because they were generous with the loader bucket overflowing. Follow along with me…there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. So, in bulk I paid $1.85 per cubic yard. If I were to buy a cubic yard in bags it would cost $77.76. In bulk it is about 66% the cost of buying in bags. And, in my opinion, the bulk compost is really compost, not like the mulch/compost that is in the bags.

What the heck is my bottom line?

1. If you are buying from a big box store…don’t get too twisted up when buying mulch/compost. Read the bag and see who makes it. If it costs the same, it’s probably the same.
2. If you have a “green recycler” in your area go talk to them. Tell them what you are looking for…they may have it. Have them show it to you. Stick your hand into it, move it around, look closely at it. Is it what you want? One caution…look for any trash in it such as plastics. Not a good sign. Buying direct and in bulk might save you some money and get you a better product.
3. If you are amending your soil and need organic matter don’t get too picky. The mulch/compost options I showed above work…I’ve used them.

CAUTION: Do not use wood chips as a soil amendment product. Wood chips, especially new/fresh ones,  breakdown very slowly in the soil. And it takes a lot of microbes to breakdown those chips (decomposition). And to do so the microbes need nitrogen…and those microbes will take the nitrogen from the soil to do so…and that will deny your plants of that needed nitrogen. Wood chips as a mulch on the surface are great…and won’t use nitrogen from the soil where your plants’ roots are. A little top dressing of organic or fish-based fertilizer with nitrogen in it will help the wood chips decompose if that is what you want…for your wood chip surface mulch.

Better-Best: If you need organic matter in your soil…go get you some! High quality organic compost is the best. But don’t shy away from any of the bagged options above. If you really want to add some serious benefits to your soil…especially a smaller bed or container…use one of the bagged options and then add in worm castings. Oh yeah!

Worm castings are one of the best things you can add to soil. It is basically worm poop (from earthworms digesting organic matter). The benefits:

• Add nutrients: contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (N-P-K) plus trace minerals plants need, and the nutrients are slow-release, so they don’t burn plant roots.
• Improves soil structure: helps sandy soil hold water, help clay soil loosen up, and creates better aeration for roots.
• Boosts microbial life: full of beneficial bacteria and microbes, helps break down organic matter, and improves overall soil health.
• Improves water retention, soil stays moist longer, and reduces watering needs.
• Helps plant growth, stronger roots, better germination, and improves yields.

I’ve used Noble Worm Organic Noble Worm Organics in a 10 lb bag from Lowes. About $18 per bag, and I had to order it. You add about 10 – 20% castings per volume of your bed or container. If you have large beds I wouldn’t use that much…maybe 5% or so at most. Then after I plant I would use a bit more as top dressing along with some organic fertilizer. Look, some is better that none…don’t get carried away and go crazy with the castings…patience.

One last piece of info…if your mulch/compost is a little chunky with wood like those mentioned above you might want to add some additional nitrogen to the soil. That will replace the nitrogen that feed the microbes that breaks down that woody material. I personally like a fish-based product such as…

Another option would be blood meal…

The liquid fish-based product would be absorbed faster by the microbes but the blood meal has a higher concentration of nitrogen but would take longer to be absorbed by the microbes.

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