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  • From: "Scott Pittman" <scott@permaculture.org>
  • To: "'permaculture'" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Fwd: Mycorrizal "fertilizers"?
  • Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:38:46 -0600

I suggest everyone go to Gil Carandang's website and read his article on
indigenous microorganisms. It follows old Asian wisdom of collecting
microorganisms from under healthy plants and then multiplying those critters
and use them as a foliar feed as well as a soil treatment. The collection
is done with cooked white rice in a Tupperware dish with loose lid placed
under trees for fungal associates and in meadows for bacterial. It is so
simple that most people, including me, have not thought of it.

My grandfather was a great one for collecting soil beneath his healthy fruit
trees and using that to inoculate newly planted trees.

Scott

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."
~Arundhati Roy

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of sals3
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 2:47 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Fwd: Mycorrizal "fertilizers"?

does mycorrizal grow in compost tea? I think your right on throw what you
find under a healthy plant that your growing for most of what the plant
needs . I never knew mycorrizal was one of them . I just use to buy it and
rub it on the roots when planting. could you use that dirt to make a good
batch of compost tea for a sick plant of the same kind???
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 10:09 AM
Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: Mycorrizal "fertilizers"?


>
>> Date: May 24, 2011 8:37:00 PM PDT To: cnpssd-L@ucsd.edu Subject:
>> [Cnpssd-L] Re: Mycorrizal "fertilizers"?
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Speaking as someone who did his PhD on mycorrhizae...
>>
>> For native plants, the best inoculum for native plants is to go out
>> into nature with a bucket and shovel, find a healthy specimen of the
>> plant, get a bucketful of soil (and leaf litter), bring it back, and
>> put it in the planting hole. You actually don't need more than a
>> couple of handsful.
>>
>> I don't recommend buying commercial mycorrhizal preparations for use
>> on native plants. The reason is that the fungi they use are ones
>> that produce huge numbers of spores in the greenhouse. I should
>> know, because I cultured the same species for the same reason. They
>> don't necessarily work well in your garden, in part because fungi
>> that invest all their resources in producing spores don't always
>> produce a big body to gather lots of nutrients for the plant.
>> Conversely, species that produce big fungal bodies (mycelia) can be
>> really hard to grow from spores. That's why I recommend the bucket
>> of soil approach. Additionally, you get all the other good bacteria,
>> mites, etc. that aren't mycorrhizal fungi. There's a whole complex
>> ecosystem in the soil, and the mycorrhizal fungi are only one part.
>>
>> How mycorrhizal fungi work (massively simplified): basically, the
>> fungi are better than the plants at getting phosphorus (and other
>> nutrients) out of the soil than most plants are, while the plants are
>> better at producing sugar than the fungi are. The plants contract
>> out phosphorus acquisition to the fungus, for up to 20% of the sugar
>> the plants get from photosynthesis. As with any contracting
>> relationship, there are complexities. If the plant isn't short of
>> phosphorus, having mycorrhizae can actually hurt it--this is why you
>> don't want to inoculate plants in a well-fertilized garden. In fact,
>> well-fertilized plants will boot the fungi out of the roots, which is
>> why mixing mycorrhizal spores in with phosphate fertilizer is a waste
>> of time.
>>
>> In general, native plants are very efficient with their nutrients,
>> meaning they don't need much fertilizer. I think having native
>> mycorrhizal fungi on the roots is a great way to go, in that you
>> probably won't need to fertilize them much if at all. However, if
>> you're planting natives in an area that's already been heavily
>> fertilized, the mycorrhizal fungi are unlikely to help. In any case,
>> I don't recommend buying the commercial preparations, simply because
>> I don't think they're worth the cost.
>>
>> My 0.002 cents,
>>
>> Frank
>
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