Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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BioOrganics Inc., Newsletter - September, 2004


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The Functions Of The Fungi
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One common image of roots is that of rope-like things in the soil which serve
to firmly anchor the plant and absorb nutrients and water. To most growers,
those type of roots present a simple objective: They must be surrounded with
enough fertilizer and water to keep the plant healthy, productive and/or
attractive.

All sorts of chemical formulas and measurements have been developed to
satisfy these root needs. There are "complete" fertilizers, "balanced"
fertilizers, suggested watering schedules, and so forth. Basically, you put
the right amounts of food and water in the soil around plants and enjoy the
good results.

Just one problem with this viewpoint: It ignores soil biology. A plant
growing in biologially-active soil needs only a small percentage of the
fertilizer required to grow chemically-fed plants, and perhaps half the
amount of water. When aware of this important point, the grower's perspective
changes dramatically.

Plants that have good populations of beneficial fungi, bacteria, earthworms,
etc. around their root systems need relatively little human input to thrive.
Nitrogen gets fixed from air and water, other nutrients are obtained from
otherwise unavailable elements in the soil, and countless soil organisms
contribute plant-perfect fertilizing with their castings and expired bodies.
(For just one example, the sticky hyphae of certain fungi can snare and kill
nematodes, then transport the resulting body nutrients into plant roots.
There are remarkable photos of this process!)

Over millions of years time, many plants have come to depend so completely on
mycorrhizal fungi to uptake nutrients and water that they have stopped
growing their own tiny foraging feeder roots. For such plants (melons,
asparagus, peppers, citrus, grapes, peaches, avocados and many others),
sending their "ropes" out into the soil has little benefit beyond anchoring.

A plant without the right mycorrhizal fungi on its roots has abnormally
little surface contact with soil, which severely limits its ability to absorb
nutrients and water. Hence, to keep those plants healthy, growers must apply
fertilizer in huge amounts (at least huge in comparison to natural soils) and
must constantly provide irrigation water. The most mycorrhizal-dependent
plants are called "heavy feeders", an entirely-undeserved term that seems to
be incorrectly used in gardening articles without question.

Those same "heavy feeders" (or, I guess, "heavy drinkers") would thrive with
far lower inputs if they had their naturally evolved fungi partnerships in
place. When those rope-like roots have the normal billions of attached
mycorrhizal fungi hyphae threads exploring the surrounding soil, they become
a hundred or even a thousand times more efficient. Fertilizing can be
drastically cut, wasteful run-through of nitrates and phosphorus can be
eliminated, soils gain fertility instead of being depleted, and
increasingly-precious water supplies can be saved.

Producing food crops and growing ornamentals, gardens and lawns with less
fertilizer/water makes good sense from several stand points, and based on the
numbers of orders for test purposes we have received in the past year from
researchers all over the world, the use of biological soil science is gaining
momentum. I'm just hoping that changes happen sometime pretty soon.

Unfortunately, it seems that impossible-to-ignore acreages will be have to be
ruined by over use of synthetic fertilizers, and some major cities'
underground aquifers will have to be rendered non-potable before there are
any widespread changes in chemistry-based growing routines. I view this as
shortsighted "strip-mining" instead of responsible stewardship of natural
resources. But maybe future generations won't mind that we depleted the crop
soils and left them with polluted drinking water, eh?

Too gloomy a view?  Maybe.  I hope so.

Good growing, my friends,

Don Chapman
President
BioOrganics, Inc.
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BioOrganics Inc. News
9/23/04
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Past BioOrganics newsletters are available by clicking on the link
"Newsletters Archive" at:

http://www.bio-organics.com
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Please direct comments or questions to:  dchapman@bio-organics.com
Replies to this newsletter go to our listserver and will not be seen.
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BioOrganics, Inc. Endomycorrhizal Inoculant (BEI) is listed by the Organic
Materials Review Institute (OMRI) for use in production of organic food and
fiber.