Mychorrhizae Fungi

Has anyone researched mychorrhizae fungi?  Any thoughts? 

MYCHORRHIZAE FUNGI

Summary:

Miles of Mycorrhizae in One Thimbleful of Soil
The name mycorrhiza literally means fungus-root.  These fungi form a symbiotic relationship with the plant, colonizing the roots and sending extremely fine filaments far out into the soil that act as root extensions. Not only do these networks sound the alarm about invaders, but the filaments are more effective in nutrient and water absorption than the plant roots themselves—mycorrhizae increase the nutrient absorption of the plant 100 to 1,000 times.

Using Mychorrhizae for shrub and tree plantings is typical in the landscape industry...the local garden center sells two types...one for shrubs and trees and one for the veggie garden...they recommended using the shrub and tree mix for everything since it contained more types of "myke".  I had some left over from planting a tree so I used it on my tomato transplants last year...couldn't really tell a difference.

Since I couldn't tell a difference, I skip the extra expense.

This fungus is fine, helpful in the garden, but you have to keep adding if if you stir or til the soil. Mixing the soil will kill this fungus.
Jo

Thanks for the great information and vids. It really makes a lot of sense. When we visited the Back to Eden garden a few weeks ago, Paul talks about this happening naturally in his garden. Not from a scientific standpoint, but how it just "happens". I think it's very interesting, and I want to try and incorporate it in our gardens. Makes sense not to til up your gardens and disrupt all that's going on in our soils. Thanks again!!

interesting article. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/dying-trees-can-send-food-to-neighbors-of-different-species/

Sitting on my computer desk right now is a packet of soluble mycorrhizae from Fungi Pefecti.  I will be putting it on my wood chips this spring.

I need to add more compost and wood chips to the flower beds. Where did last year's compost and chips go??

My wood chips order last April never arrived.  I will have to try again this year.

Meanwhile, as Paul says, I use what i can get, mainly fall leaves and any bits of decomposing wood small enough that I can pick up on my dog walks. I generally carry a plastic shopping bag in my pockets.

It's magic , a pinch down each transplant hole , pop th plant in the hole , back fill & water .

It  has given me some massive root systems on all trans-planted veg , shrubs & flowers ....  inside or out side the glasshouse.

On all the granular  packs I have used it says " DO NOT MIX THIS IN THE SOIL THERE IS NO NEED .

Evidently the fungi feed on the soil and spread their mycellium ( sp ) aka  Fungal roots )  through out the soil for several feet , breaking down the soil , manures & fibres etc into quality plant nutrients.

There's a documentary I saw last year call (if I remember this correctly) The Secret Lives of Plants.  It was fascinating!  And it talked about the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungus.  It one case, scientists have found that the fungus in the soil acted as communication wires for the trees in a forest, and the trees could send nutrients to their "children" through the fungus.  How cool is that?  I think there's so much about plants that we don't know yet.

It's whole other world, little  saphhire.  This is something our ancestors could never have dreamed of.

I know what mycorrhizal fungi normally looks like that is commonly found underneath wood chips. But yesterday I noticed this growing on the mulch, parsley and beats leaves, as well as the wood SFG grid. (See pics below.)

I should note that this is my first time using wood chip and mycorrhiza spores, which I started using in October.  Among fungi products I'm using includes one from Bountea, which supposedly contains as many as 20 different varieties of mycorrhiza spores.

Haven't seen anything like that before. Maybe contact Bountea and the others and send them the photos.

dstack wrote:I know what mycorrhizal fungi normally looks like that is commonly found underneath wood chips. But yesterday I noticed this growing on the mulch, parsley and beats leaves, as well as the wood SFG grid. (See pics below.)

I should note that this is my first time using wood chip and mycorrhiza spores, which I started using in October.  Among fungi products I'm using includes one from Bountea, which supposedly contains as many as 20 different varieties of mycorrhiza spores.

Wow!
Save

Looks like a slime mold to me. I haven't seen one quite like that before, but they come in all sorts of weird.
---
Here's what the Arcyria cinerea looks like -- looks similar to me (though I'm now entirely unclear where the taxonomists are drying the line between Amoebozoa and slime molds) :
http://www.digital-nature.de/pflanzenwelt/schleimpilze/arcyriacinerea/detail/detail_2.html

sfg4uKim wrote:Has anyone researched mychorrhizae fungi?  Any thoughts? 

MYCHORRHIZAE FUNGI

Summary:

Miles of Mycorrhizae in One Thimbleful of Soil
The name mycorrhiza literally means fungus-root.  These fungi form a symbiotic relationship with the plant, colonizing the roots and sending extremely fine filaments far out into the soil that act as root extensions. Not only do these networks sound the alarm about invaders, but the filaments are more effective in nutrient and water absorption than the plant roots themselves—mycorrhizae increase the nutrient absorption of the plant 100 to 1,000 times.

Four years ago I researched it as best as I could .
The Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain ( R.H.S ) have done their own trials upon it so have many of our leading gardening masters .
I realise that in almost every case there is a financial advantage to them to give glowing reports about it , but I do think that the RHS  would be very much against such a blatant commercial advert for a rubbish product .
On the RHS website there used to be a few graphs for it ..they might still be available to view .

 The RHS  give it thumbs up for trees & shrubs , flowers & veg , hanging baskets & plant pots .  I've been using it for the last three years . Yes I do find that there is an increase in root balls & hair roots .  I've had difficulty in getting cauliflowers to grow well . This year each transplant got a pinch of it down the planting hole , plant put in & backfilled then tamped down . Yep .....we got some nice cauli's this year .

Three years ago  I also used a teaspoon of it sprinkled in the planting holes of two apple trees , two plums , two Ghogi berry & two thornless blackberry. It certainly made then grow much better than the ones I put in 8 years ago without it.

 This autumn I have started off a dozen or more fuschia cuttings in the beds . gave them a plant hormone powder dipping  , pushed a broom stick in to make the 6 " deep holes then sprinkled a pinch of the fungi down each hole ,  filled the holes & watered them well .. we'll see the results come next autumn.

I've also put a pinch down each daffodil planting hole for approx 48 daffs planted a couple of months ago .. We'll soon see if there are any outstanding results come spring .


I'm now using it in our grown from seed bonsai.  This year in late October I sowed numerous yew, acorn , hazelnuts , larch & eucalyptus seeds in pot-noodle tubs and some larger tubs each seed hole got a small pinch of the fungi . 
I'm using it on these bonsai to try and get them going with lots of lovely roots but as they are in the noodle tubs they should not out grow themselves ( say's he with fingers & eyes crossed )

 I'm doing this so that Alison can work at producing some decent Nebari ( SP ?) ..... quality root displays .
This allows the plant to be replanted in 15 months time with some of the rootstock showing , sitting a few mm above the mean soil level .  Done every year over the next four or five years some of these drawn out the soil roots can be turned into a striking feature of the bonsai trees .

Fungi has a remarkable affect on growth among all plants...compost teas can be made dominated by fungi as opposed to bacteria.
Fungi forms symbiotic relationship with plants feeding them nutrients and moisture not otherwise available. Plants in return feed fungi carbon needed to survive. How this is done is quite a science.
A book called Teaming with Fungi will be on the shelves in January 2017, written by the author of teaming with microbes and teaming with nutrients.
Pictured here is a fungi diagram with and without plants root systems.
Explained in the microbe book is the woods / forests are made up with 80% fungi growth.

Nebari. I looked up some photos and the trees look like ancient trees while being only bonsai. In the garden, we would call it root-bound, but done in a crafty way, I have to agree the "heaving" looking roots add great character.

One thing about this Forum is that I continue to learn all kinds of information.

I look forward to this book - I've been gathering forest floor duff from different places around our mountains for a couple years.  Just a trash bag here and there, then sprinkling it lightly throughout all my garden.  I'm assuming that there will be differing fungi from different places around our mountains.  

The past 2 years in my garden, I'm seeing one plant of maybe 5 or 6 of the same variety might get aphids and the rest won't.  From what I've read the one plant may be sending out signals about how to defend themselves.  Fascinating!  And even the one plant doesn't seem crippled as they once were.