You'll find more info on this over on the Soil & Compost forum but basically "Composted Manure" is 80%+ manure (usually from feeder lots) that has been stockpiled and aged for 30-60 days. Manured Compost is approx. 80% composted organic materials such as straw, leaves, paper, grass clippings, paper, cardboard, wood chips, etc. to which some aged manure has been added. Given the greater availability of organic materials to make compost out of it is usually cheaper. And, I contend, usually better given the diversity of materials and nutrients it contains. Mushroom compost is also not as readily available given it is from mushroom growing operations only and yes it is the lowest nutrient value of the 3. What is best? That all depends on the quality of the stuff to begin with - there is good and bad out there. And it depends on what your primary goal is - soil tilth and drainage improvement or nutrients? All 3 or any of the 3 are beneficial to a garden. Composted manure is usually the highest in N-P-K but does little to improve soil. While manured compost usually contains good levels of N-P-K plus many of the micro-nutrients and minerals and provides excellent soil improvement. Mush compost is lowest in nutrients but an excellent soil conditioner. There are exceptions to this of course and in general farm or homemade will be better than any of the bagged stuff but if the bags are all that are available and I had to choose just 1 of them then I'd go with the Manured Compost. Hope this helps. Dave

Not familiar with a product named Gromax but I agree that not all wood chip mulch will automatically come infected with the fungus spores - right out of the bag. And even if it is already contaminated with the spores due to improper aging/composting and storage it can be eliminated by drying the mulch well first in the sun before applying it. But the fungus is air born too so, if common to the area, it can arrive on the wind and set up housekeeping. It only thrives in ideal conditions - very warm, always moist environment, shaded, limited air circulation area, and within a narrow range of pH. Correct the problems that are encouraging it's growth keeps it from coming back. The article below should be of help to you. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Control of Nuisance Fungi

You put down newspaper or cardboard to cover any "weeds" currently growing in soil and help extend the amount of mulch you have. Now, that newspaper or cardbaord will not prevent new "weeds" from germinating in the mulch, but those new "weeds" will be much easier to remove because the roots have little to hang onto unlike those growing in soil. If just a mulch was used to control "weeds" that mulch would need to be thick enough to keep the "weeds" from getting any access to sunlight and that is usually 4 to 6 inches deep. One or two inches will not do that. Maybe fresh manure would get hot enough, if the manure was piled deep enough, to kill any "weeds" growing where it is put down, but it is not something that I would rely on. The best thing to do with any manure is compost it to limit the loss of valuable nutrients from that manure and to kill off as many potential disease pathogens as possible before putting it on your soil, especially where food crops might be grown.

Keren, I apologize for kimm's brusque reply. The fact is that you could be quite safe tilling the chicken chips into your soil OR using it as a mulch. I'd be delighted to have it for my garden! I apply fresh wood chips to my ornamental and veggie gardens every single year, as a mulch and the earthworms take it into the soil in the following months. I do fertilize my hardworking plants, though, but I would not expect them to suffer from a nitrogen depletion if I didn't.