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compost for bulb beds

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From: Wilmer Rutt City: Chicago, IL
We garden at a large retirement project. On the sixth floor terrace, we planted a large variety of spring bulbs last year. Some time after planting we distributed two inches of mushroom compost over all our beds. We had bad results for about 50 percent of our bulbs. Van Engelen, our supplier insists that we should never use compost. correct?
	Extension Message From: James Schmidt Extension Specialist, Home Horticulture/4-H Department of Crop Sciences schmidt1@illinois.edu
Compost, in general, is not a bad thing for improving soils. You did not indicate what 'bad results' means. Poor flowering? no flowering? floppy? or ?? The problem with mushroom compost is that there can be salt issues. It's also possible that placing it on top kept the soil too wet. Bulbs prefer really well drained soils. I wouldn't place it on top of the soil again. If you want to use it, incorporate it early so it has time to mellow.
	Extension Message From: James Schmidt Extension Specialist, Home Horticulture/4-H Department of Crop Sciences schmidt1@illinois.edu
I would like to add to Jim's response with the thought that we experienced on of the worst winters in a long time and it is possible that the soil in the planters froze with temperatures equal to our air temperatures and the bulbs just did not survive. If you dug any of them up and they were mush, that is likely what happened.
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