These interactions appear to be plant- and fungus-specific. Not all mycorrhizae-forming fungi will work with all desert plants. There are research reports which show that association with the "wrong" fungus actually decreases the health and vigor of the plant. Because there is a requirement for specific plant-fungus association, mycorrhizae can be important in reestablishing native species in areas where they have been lost.
Mycorrhizal fungi are available for sale from several sources. Introducing mycorrhizal fungal spores inoculation is sometimes suggested to improve yields and plant vigor, particularly for container and landscape ornamentals.
Inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi may not be a benefit unless it is specific to the plant, because there is a requirement for a specific fungus-plant interaction for optimum benefit. It would also be counterproductive to inoculate with a fungus that could strongly benefit a weedy species. Many desert soils already have mycorrhizal fungi present, at least in small amounts.
Even without inoculation, spores can be found in many desert locations. If host plants are grown where there are spores of these fungi, then both thrive. The mycorrhizal fungi may continue to survive even after the original host is no longer present. The hyphae enter the root and create swellings vesicles for nutrient storage structures where nutrients are transferred between fungus and plant arbuscules.
The names of these two structures are combined into "vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae" VAM , the term for the most common type of mycorrhizal association. There is no sure-fire way to guarantee natural mycorrhizal populations, but in order to increase the amount of fungi, follow a couple of basic rules. When planting a desert native, make sure that the root ball contains native soil. This is where the mycorrhizal fungi reside; without the fungi, there can be no associations.
Just as important, be very careful when using pesticides, particularly fungicides. Do not apply them to the soil. Fungicides kill all the fungi they encounter. While they can be effective against plant disease, they can destroy beneficial fungi and cause serious problems to plant survival. References: Allen, M. Ecology of Mycorrhizae Cambridge Studies in Ecology. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. Jordan, N. Zhang, and S. Hit enter to search or ESC to close.
Arbsucular Mycorrhiza Mycorrhizae are fungi that establish symbiosis with most plants for better nutrition, tolerance to stress and balanced growth. Nutrients exchange through symbiosos How does AMF work?
Best production method Why to produce AMF in vivo? Other microorganisms. Trichodermas Mycorrhizae are fungi that establish symbiosis with most plants for better nutrition, tolerance to stress and balanced growth.
Bacterias Plant growth promoter bacteria with biofertilizing capacity and pathogen control help plants cope with stressful situations. Do you need more info?
Do you want to place an order? A technician will contact you soon. Google Maps. Microorganisms History of microorganisms Mycorrhizas Trichodermas Bacteria. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Biochar can be self-made and added to the soil. The micro-pores are ideal for microbes. It is not just the fungi but the microbes.
Healthy soil is not a formula. It is about putting in the effort. Plus do not forget about having sufficient water. Your readers may find this interesting. Humanity has done such a disservice to the balance of our soil. There is no harm in trying some of the products offered. Research is needed before running out and buying anything off the shelf. Especially in a case such as tomatoes which need a little more phosphorous.
You can throw this in your search bar for additional sources. I planted trees in a former agricultural field in which there had been tillage, use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides…. I initially found the soil very compacted and muddy full of water, without air.
Some of my trees have died, probably because of the lack of drainage. I bought some mycorrhizal fungi inoculant with 8 endo and 7 ecto , and put some of it in touch with what remained of the tree roots.
One year after, I found that the structure of the soil around the trees had dramatically improved, becoming more crumbly and aerated , and that some of the trees were doing better. I agree it may not be useful to inoculate an already healthy soil, but I believe it may help in a damaged soil. It may also help when planting ecto plants like oaks in a soil which only has endo plants.
Is that your argument? There are some good point made, but IMO you go to far with your dismissive statements.
And how many spores in the inoculant? First, mycorrhiza is the short but correct way of writing mycorrhizal fungi.
Some fungi are more dominant than others, so adding a particularly aggressive species of AM could help your garden. It turns out that there are hundreds if not thousands of different kinds in your soil and some of these are very specific to certain types of plants. How do you know your plants will benefit from the 2 or 3 types you buy? You could pinpoint the morphology of the fungi that are colonizing your plants by taking a root sample.
If the container is left in a greenhouse, or a transport truck too long, the heat kills the fungi. There is no way for you to know that the product you buy contains active fungi — they could all be dead. Heat from a greenhouse or truck is unlikely to kill the spores of the fungus.
More of a concern is drying the spores. They become unviable if they are dehydrated, but that is unlikely to happen in a truck or greenhouse. It is possible that these foreign species inhibit the growth of your native species. You have no way of knowing but it is never a good idea to import foreign species of any kind into your garden.
Lots of non-native species improve the growth of hosts. They will not likely inhibit growth, especially since AM uptake nutrients and water. Keep in mind, research is constantly being done and these commercial AM products are shown to be pretty mainstream and garden-friendly. Also, you could monitor the effects of the mycorrhiza by checking the growth of your plants. There seem to be lots of lab studies and even agricultural studies, but do you have any references for studies in gardens?
Quite a few places refer to the heating problem. What volume did you mean? Thank you! There is no way for home gardeners to measure this. The way to increase the amount is to build good soil — adding it from a jar will not increase the amount your soil will support.
To do this add more organic matter and mulch. When you say bare soil, would this include commercial cropland? How does pesticide residue in general affect the microbial life and would a seed coating that included microbes, beneficial fungi and minerals help to recolonize the soil during the cropping season?
Almost all of my comments refer to gardens and not croplands. Every chemical has an effect on microbial life but much of the effect depends on dose. Most pesticide residue is in low amounts and will have limited short term effects, provided that the pesticide is decomposed by microbes.
For example, glyphosate is decomposed by bacteria. There is limited evidence that adding any microbes to soil will recolonize the soil. Existing microbes will tend to out compete the new ones. If the added microbes are native to the soil, but missing, there is a reason for them to be missing. Are there short term benefits — possibly. Could a non-native microbe become established — possibly. Adding nitrogen fixing bacteria with legumes does work, but in this case the seedling provides a home for the microbe.
I am retired but thinking of starting a lawn service. Your site is very informative on just what I need to know on grass and gardening. Knowledge is power to this new transition. Why is it that there are so many people on YouTube that claim the effects of purchased mycorrhizal fungi is so awesome and they will show tests that seem to prove it works?? If you find a good one, post the link here and I will gladly review it.
I accidentally came across a company called groasis with a series of videos experiments on YouTube. Their main product to sell is some kind of pot that allows you to water less, which they are testing in the videos, but they also are testing mycorrhizae additions to replace fertiliser. In this case they have a vast number of plants, with mycorrhizae additions and controls, and clearly show the benefits in the plants growth that had mycorrhizae added.
They have no mycorrhizae product to sell and do not even report on what product they used. From this I can imagine the benefits of adding mycorrhizae specifically when starting seeds in pots when using commercially bought potting compost, as there is probably little chance that this has much in the way of mycorrhizal activity, and could give the pants a good start. However, I will do my own experiments, including trying to make my own mycorrhizal additions naturally, which is actually what this groasis company recommends.
You can find their videos on YouTube if you are interested to see their results and controls. It can have benefits in pots that are not fertilized. But it is much easier to fertilize, which most people do. Excess phosphorus actually kills them. I added a mycorrhizal innocculant called Mykos from Xtreme Gardening to the surface roots of avocado trees. I later saw white fuzziness around the tree roots near the surface. Then, I saw mushrooms of different types spring up after rains.
I have seen similar fuzzy white growth in the pine bark mulch on untreated avocado trees. But they appeared to survive and add diversity to the mushrooms, several of which were quite weird looking horn-shaped and strange, dying quickly but attracting flies before they died. I am convinced that I introduced new species but not that these were more beneficial than native species, although they clearly survived and flourished to reproduction indicating that the product was viable.
Those flies may have carried them to the yards of neighbors? Given the large number of species, adding diversity may be helpful? I enjoyed the experiment in any case. By the way, and I should have posted on a different article, a product called Sluggo, does kill all snails and slugs, and stays active, partly due to snail and slug cannibalism, I think.
Snails are an introduced species here in California so my remorse is non-existent. Some scientists are concerned that we might be spreading invasive fungi species. What harm might they do long term? Nobody knows.
What about in a baren Mojave desert with clay soil? How do you ammend that? That makes the soil hotter as the nitrogen escspes at a very high rate.
Ive been experimenting with the deep bed method as promoted by John Semour, but I am still unsure of ratios of matter to put in the soil. Some say Gypsom, others sand, some say black soil and top dressing of compost as too much in soil or in pots would heat up the plants.
Would mycorrhizal fungai be a waste here? My husband and I are elderly and are trying to grow our own food for health and cutting expenses.
If mycorrhizae fungi could live in your soil, it would already be there. That is one of the misunderstandings of this product. The fungi only live where conditions are suitable for them. And if conditions are suitable for them, they would already be there. If you think it might help, next time you go visit someone with a garden, bring back a couple of scoops of soil — that will work better than the commercial product. Add some manure and sphagnum Moss. I believe the answer ,at least in part, to the question to high temperature area soil is found in the natural design of falling organic matter.
This idea of leaves and other loose matter provides for solar shielding, remote shade perfectly placed above soil as heat rises thus not raising soil temps, indirect airflow for oxygenation, rain or water flow, and orgainic matter to feed the microbial life in the soil. Hi Robert, I love your site. Do you have any insight on Hugelkultur. Supposedly the rotting wood buried under the earth not only acts as a sponge for water but also all sorts of fungi develop which supply nutrients to the plants.
Does it really work? I have not studied Hugelkultur in detail. It is a combination of sound ideas, and folklore rolled up into a gardening system which has had very little scientific testing.
Many Thanks for your website. Could you please tell me how much of propagules can give one mycorhizae spore per generation? Thanks and regards. I am no scientist but as a gardener of many years and currently a community food grower, I have spent the last five years using mycorrhizal fungi in many situations.
I found roots were thicker and stronger when plants grown from seed were grown in compost inoculated with this fungi with an immense amount of rootlets and that plants were more resilient to drought. Growth is quicker and more lush. I live and work in Somerset in the UK. I just read your article on anecdotal evidence…. I will see if I can find the time and a spare patch of land to do it!
Thank you ,,,,p. Hi Robert, Good post. I grow a lot in large raised beds made of commercially available, heat sterilised potting mix and experimented with innoculants as I often had poor initial growth until the plants had spent a month in the bed. For me, they seemed to work. I got better plant growth from my seedlings and I was happy.
The only problem I had was the potting mix would become hydrophobic and difficult to easily water. Then, by chance I got access to a large amount of free, fresh horse manure. So, I set out beds with the normal mix, layered the top with the manure and put in the seedlings as normal.
I had huge success! A big difference — better than innoculant. The manure supply soon ran out and I took to laying a very thin 1 inch layer of soil on top of the potting mix to prevent the hydrophobic behaviour of the potting mix.
To my great surprise, I got results as good as I had with the manure — both better than innoculated sterile mix. So I can only surmise that the hard clay pan local soil used as a topdressing had enough life in it to establish a good microflora in the beds all by itself and the fertilization effect of the manure was incidental if it mattered at all.
All beds behave the same in year Potting mix that is peat based is notoriously hydrophobic. So manufacturers add a wetting agent to the peat to make it easier to water. I suspect the wetting agent is either breaking down or washing away. Putting manure or soil on top would prevent drying — so you might be seeing more consistent water content in the peat soil. Many sources claim that the largest threat to the rhizosphere areas where roots and root symbiotic organisms interact is actually soil disturbance.
Since most people till their gardens annually it would make sense to add inoculants to the soil where it has been disturbed to hasten colonization of the soil. This means that neither inoculant would benefit a garden of leafy greens from the Brassicaceae Cabbage and lots more , Chenopodiae Spinach and more , or Polygonaceae Sorrel. So… using gardening practices that promote micorrhizal fungi and healthy soil will negate the need for soil inoculants to some extent, but more traditional methods may greatly benefit from inoculants.
I almost always inoculate my legumes, for example, with nitrogen fixing bacteria, but even in the areas that are not treated the legumes still produce nodules with nitrogen fixing bacteria. A lot of people till their gardens — but I am not sure I would agree it is most. To those who do till — it makes more sense to stop tilling, than to use a fungi inoculant — as you suggest.
Nitrogen fixing bacteria is a different product and one that has been shown to have beneficial effects on plant growth and production when used with the right kind of plant — — mostly legumes. Just want to know, should we even avoid adding any types of external fungi or bacterial inoculant to our soil. I agree very much with jake, and I believe you are muddling the issue about species of mycorrhizae speaking of Ectos and not explaining the difference in AMF and the Ectos varieties with do not form with agricultural plants but instead form with trees and shrubs.
The purpose of the post was not to understand the difference between AMF and Ectos — different topic for a different post. I also did not frame Mycorrhiza in a negative way. I have talked to experts in the field and they agree that adding mycorrhizae to gardens is a waste of money. By experts, you mean the Garden Professors.
I use to follow them on their older WSU page and in the Facebook pages. Not anymore. I also practiced and agreed with many things they published, but they have a strong propensity towards having a god complex. The hubristic insistence that truth comes only from something science-based and found in ONLY in peer-reviewed journals became way too much for me. Hence I quit my association over there. Now, I have heard this same myth about mycorrhizal spores are all over floating in the air.
They are just out there somewhere and there is no reason to inoculate. Not true. I had several acres of land up in Anza California above Palm Springs at one time where I experimented with plants and various mycorrhizas, even collecting my own long before numerous papers were available to the public on the subject.
I fought the US Forest Service on many of their lousy bad scientific practices of reforestation. Like many, they never inoculated. Their irresponsible practice where I lived was to chemically and mechanically kill off all the chaparral and perennials because these were consider an invasive hindrance to their successful tree planting program. They would even slightly till the soils, something that would insure the mycorrhizal network grid was obliterated.
But the chaparral removal was what hurt their efforts the most. I actually proved this by establishing a forested wooded area at a lower elevation that they insisted would fail. The trees planted on this borderline high desert acreage still exist and have out performed every one of those US forest Service projects. In all of the forestry projects, they had to go out and weekly water those trees in the beginning.
Most of my projects there was no need as water was acquired through mutualism with other plants. I also collected plant specimens from around the southwest to establish on my land.
One interesting side effect in inoculation was that the wild shrubs and trees close to where I placed the newer plants actually improved their health and lush foliage vigor that following season and truffle formation appeared underneath their canopies, especially the stunted scrub oaks which had only maintained survival each season with no real noticeable improvement ever over the first 15 years I lived there.
Most all urban soils down there are devoid of much of the beneficial organisms found in the wild areas. New housing developments have a fairly sterile soil and inoculents are very necessary. The constant chemical dumping by homeowners and professional landscapers and gardeners has further degraded those soils because the mycorrhizae if it were even present will disconnect with to rich a nutrient soil.
The plant will simply stop producing the chemical exudates which signal colonization and the fungi will disconnect and whither.
He has a wealth of information and he is one of the earliest mycologists to actually write scientific papers on the subject long before he created his own company, Mycorrhizal Applications Inc, to farm these spores for his blended products. Just be very careful putting faith in a people claiming to be the best experts because the follow the science. There is good and bad science and depending on who is researching and performing the science and what prejudices and biases they infuse into said research will determine whether or not it is a truth through replication and practical application.
I have contacts who spent much of their lives studying mycorrhizal fungus and they have confirmed my conclusions. The other thing I do is look for scientific evidence for support of an idea. In the case of adding mycorrhizal fungi to gardens, I have not found it. If you have such evidence I would be very interested in seeing it, but I doubt information from Mycorrhizal Applications Inc is going to be unbiased.
I agree science is not perfect — but what else do we have? Anecdotal information?
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