कम्पोस्ट गुणवत्ता जाँच

01Release is a decision with a name on it

Somebody has to say that this batch may be spawned. That decision rests on four kinds of evidence: what you saw, what you measured, what the process record shows, and what a laboratory confirmed.

Any one of them alone will mislead you. Colour tells you about heat history but nothing about ammonia. A squeeze tells you roughly about water but nothing about pH. The batch curve tells you what the tunnel did but not what the compost became. Decide on the set, and write the name of whoever decided beside the batch number.

02The checks DMR puts numbers on

DMR describes compost after Phase II as holding 64 to 66 percent moisture, with no liquid oozing when it is squeezed firmly, and free ammonia below 10 ppm. The pH that suits Agaricus bisporus mycelium is 7.2 to 7.8, and compost is cooled to 25 to 30 °C before spawning.

Final nitrogen depends on the method used: DMR gives 1.75 to 2.0 percent for long method compost, 2.0 to 2.2 percent for short method, and 2.2 to 2.5 percent for indoor bunker compost. Judge your batch by the figure for the method you ran.

• Moisture
• Ammonia
• pH
• Nitrogen
• Temperature

03The moisture figure that has two answers

Two DMR moisture figures circulate and growers mix them up. The manual says good synthetic long method compost should hold 68 to 72 percent moisture at spawning. The same manual describes compost after Phase II as 64 to 66 percent. Both are DMR figures and both are correct, because they describe different compost.

So name your compost before you name your target. Above 72 percent, DMR warns that aeration fails, conditions turn airless and plaster moulds appear. NHB links compost below 64 percent, with wet casing, to weeper mushrooms. Neither end is small.

04Write down what you did not check

The most damaging line in a release sheet is the one left silently blank. If you did not test pH this batch, write not tested. If the ammonia reading came from one point rather than three, write one point. A record that hides its gaps will be trusted more than it deserves.

Small units can run this with a printed checklist and an outside laboratory a few times a season. Larger plants need a named release role, batch trends, and a written rule for a batch that fails one check but passes the rest.