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

When I did, in my ignorance, add animal manures to the garden beds without first composting those manures, I did see an increase in "weeds" and it made no difference if it was manure from dairy cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, llamas or alpacas, unless it was dehydrated manure. It seems the heat used to dry that manure was enough to kill any "weed" seeds. Since the easiest method to keep these "weed" seeds out of the garden is to compost the manure first it simply makes sense to do that, along with all the other very good reasons to compost manure before applying it to your garden soil.

Bob, I'm not sure if my previous post was helpful. Try this new link below. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Google - Farm Supply Sarasota

The best advice can only come from someone who knows what your current soil is like and what it lacks. But here are some differences between the amendments. Mushroom manure adds organic material without a lot of nutrients, so you might say it is fairly "nutrient neutral". It would be good in most soils, particularly if they are either sandy or full of clay and in need of additional organic material. You would then add other amendments or fertilizer to balance any nutrient deficiencies in the soil. The risks are low and it is helpful for many soil types. Lifestock manure when well composted also adds organic matter but is also high in nitrogen. So it is like adding compost + a high nitrogen fertilizer. It is a good choice if you need the nitrogen. But the manure has to be well composted before you add it to the soil. If you add horse or cow manure directly to the soil the ammonia and salts that are released as it begins to decompose can be too much for your plants and burn them. It can take 9 months to a year before the manure has composted down to the point where it is safe. So find out how it was produced. Chicken manure is livestock manure on steroids. It is higher in nitrogen, which can be a plus if that is a deficiency you need to address. Again, it has to be composted (or "aged") before it is safe to add to an active garden. In short, if you don't know your soil shortcomings, mushroom manure is always the safe bet - especially if you are going to use a specific rose fertilizer to supply nutrients. If you are going to fertilize anyway, then the potent livestock or chicken manure may be overkill.