Mycorrhizae..can I get more bang for my $$$?

z_willus_d · July 5, 2013

More than just the myco-fungi, Myco-grow and Great white listed a large number of "Beneficial" bacteria in their ranks. Since it's been several months since I used those products (and a few of my plantings were not inoculated at plant out), and I didn't know what the compost soil products included, I included the two myco-centric products. There is a bit of a contradiction between what I've read here in this thread on the ability of teas to reproduce fungal elements (not easy) vs. what I read in Dr. Ingham's paper, where she suggests it is a matter of having the right components in the mix and generally requires longer brew times. Here's one basic starting point recipe she gave for a 50/50 bacteria/fungi type tea:

Equal Ratio Fungi to Bacteria Tea (based on 50 gal tea)
- 15 pounds (7 kg) 1:1 fungal to bacterial biomass ratio compost
- 16 ounces (500 mL) humicacids
- 8 ounces (250 g) soluble kelp Fish hydrolysate, soybean meal, feathermeal, oatmeal, or other high complex protein materials (see labelon packages), fruit pulp, fish emulsion

Add nothing with a preservative or antibiotic in it! Humic acids select for beneficial fungi, but any fungal food could be substituted here. Make certain to obtain a mixture containing many humic acids, rather than a limited set (ie., 3 to5 humic acids). Rockdusts, rock powders, or rock flours can be beneficial as well,although these grainy materials can harm mechanical pumps. Fish hydrolysate should be tested for their ability to serve as fungal food resources
before using extensively.Fish emulsions do not have the oils that help fungi grow, so an emulsion is more beneficial as a bacterial food than a fungal food.

I didn't mention that it's been very hot in the garage where I've had the tea brewing. (100+ most of the time) The paper indicated there were two schools of thought on ideal temperatures: 1st) suggesting a specific range of temp as optimal for micro-organism growth (much lower than 100F); and the 2nd suggesting the brew should be made at the temperature in which the organisms will be administered. So, obviously, I'm banking on #2.

I had a foot of frothy foam at the top of my brew yesterday before I removed 10llb of 30lb for injection watering in the evening (48hr brew). The remaining 20lb are still bubbling in the garage, and I should use them as a foliar and soil drench later this evening. The tea has a mixture of a kind of sweet grass smoothy mixed with a kind of wet sock, gym in the rainy wintertime scent. I didn't find the wet sock pleasant, but I'm hoping it's just the Neptune's Harvest fish stuff that I added. It wasn't actually that terrible a smell and not too intense.
-naysen

July 5, 2013	#11
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	More than just the myco-fungi, Myco-grow and Great white listed a large number of "Beneficial" bacteria in their ranks. Since it's been several months since I used those products (and a few of my plantings were not inoculated at plant out), and I didn't know what the compost soil products included, I included the two myco-centric products. There is a bit of a contradiction between what I've read here in this thread on the ability of teas to reproduce fungal elements (not easy) vs. what I read in Dr. Ingham's paper, where she suggests it is a matter of having the right components in the mix and generally requires longer brew times. Here's one basic starting point recipe she gave for a 50/50 bacteria/fungi type tea: Equal Ratio Fungi to Bacteria Tea (based on 50 gal tea) - 15 pounds (7 kg) 1:1 fungal to bacterial biomass ratio compost - 16 ounces (500 mL) humicacids - 8 ounces (250 g) soluble kelp Fish hydrolysate, soybean meal, feathermeal, oatmeal, or other high complex protein materials (see labelon packages), fruit pulp, fish emulsion Add nothing with a preservative or antibiotic in it! Humic acids select for beneficial fungi, but any fungal food could be substituted here. Make certain to obtain a mixture containing many humic acids, rather than a limited set (ie., 3 to5 humic acids). Rockdusts, rock powders, or rock flours can be beneficial as well,although these grainy materials can harm mechanical pumps. Fish hydrolysate should be tested for their ability to serve as fungal food resources before using extensively.Fish emulsions do not have the oils that help fungi grow, so an emulsion is more beneficial as a bacterial food than a fungal food. I didn't mention that it's been very hot in the garage where I've had the tea brewing. (100+ most of the time) The paper indicated there were two schools of thought on ideal temperatures: 1st) suggesting a specific range of temp as optimal for micro-organism growth (much lower than 100F); and the 2nd suggesting the brew should be made at the temperature in which the organisms will be administered. So, obviously, I'm banking on #2. I had a foot of frothy foam at the top of my brew yesterday before I removed 10llb of 30lb for injection watering in the evening (48hr brew). The remaining 20lb are still bubbling in the garage, and I should use them as a foliar and soil drench later this evening. The tea has a mixture of a kind of sweet grass smoothy mixed with a kind of wet sock, gym in the rainy wintertime scent. I didn't find the wet sock pleasant, but I'm hoping it's just the Neptune's Harvest fish stuff that I added. It wasn't actually that terrible a smell and not too intense. -naysen