I've read that half of the organic matter in compost consists of carbon. However, I'm not sure if it's appropriate to use this conversion factor for all phases of composting when producing button mushrooms. Can you provide any guidance?
I can't answer your question directly, but C makes up about 30 to 40% of many plant materials and the N concentration is typically less than 5%. The composting brings the C: N ratio to about (10 to 15) : 1 by losing C as CO2.
Organic matter (%) = Total organic carbon (%) x 1.72
A consideration of the possible variation in organic matter composition predicts a range of factor values between 1.4 and 2.5, a range that is narrower than empirical results at least in part because of the interaction between the methods used to estimate organic matter and soil composition.This conversion factor assumes organic matter contains 58 % organic carbon. However this can vary with the type of organic matter, soil type and soil depth.
Under optimal conditions, composting proceeds through three phases:
1. The mesophilic, or moderate-temperature phase, which lasts for a couple of days,
2. The thermophilic, or high-temperature phase, which can last from a few days to several months, and finally,
3. A several-month cooling and maturation phase.
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