Mycorrhiza and heavy rains question

[barkeater]

bohica, healthy soil = healthy plants. Too many think if you don't spend a lot on the fad of the day you haven't done enough. So be it.

[bohica]

I do agree that there is alot of "keeping up with the jones" in all aspects of life, but probably directly in porportion to those who dismiss great products.

[barkeater]

LOL Mychorrizae is a "great product"? It's everywhere there is healthy soil. As I just said before, if your soil is healthy you already have all the fungi you need. If your garden is degraded so you need to inoculate your plants, go out in the woods and dig up some forest soil. Put a little in your planting hole, and voila! You've now inoculated your soil, and haven't spent a dime.

Here are good instructions I just found on agroforestry.net:

Strategies for Improving Mycorrhizae Activity on Your Site:

1) Use green manures and mulch. Using plenty of organic matter will foster beneficial soil microorganisms.

2) Refrain from using soluble chemical fertilizers, especially those which have high levels of phosphorous. Use organic fertilizers when possible.

3) If the soils are degraded, consider adding a small amount of soil from a nearby healthy forest area to each planting hole to "inoculate" the soil with healthy microlife.

4) For badly degraded sites, plants can be inoculated with commercially-available mycorrhizae prior to planting.

[amideutch]

And if you go out into the woods to get Myco's, what type are you going to get? Endospores, Ectospores, Trichoderma and are the bacteria going to be beneficial? Are you going to get some nice biopesticides over at the park or down on the south forty? All of these beneficial organisms do different jobs in the rhizosphere. Whether it be protecting the plant from pathogens, making nitrogen available to the plant or breaking down phosphorus that was otherwise unavailable to the plant. This is not a fad, but the culmination of years of research and study to determine what their place in the rhizospere is. And now they are becoming commercially available to the home and professional gardeners. I don't think $10.00 which includes postage is such a big expenditure for a pack of beneficial Microorganisms that will inoculate most peoples garden. The benefits have been proven and until they come out with a test kit that will tell you what Myko's are in the soil, digging up soil in the woods is a crap shoot. And all the folks that have been reporting early blight already this year and I'm sure they have beautiful gardens could have possibly avoided this by inoculating their soil/plants prior to or during plant out of their seedlings and I don't mean buy using soil from the south forty for the inoculant. Just my one cent as I got a special going today. Ami

[bohica]

Very well said Ami, I couldbnt agree more.

[barkeater]

So now mychorrizae prevents early blight! Amazing no one else knows about it. Wonder why it isn't advertised on the package?

[bigbubbacain]

Originally Posted by barkeater

So now mychorrizae prevents early blight! Amazing no one else knows about it. Wonder why it isn't advertised on the package?

To which brand of Mycorrhizae are you speaking?

[amideutch]

Mycorrhizal Fungi and Disease Suppression

Among the most beneficial root-inhabiting organisms, mycorrhizal fungi can cover plant roots, forming what is known as a fungal mat. The mycorrhizal fungi protect plant roots from diseases in several ways:

• By providing a physical barrier to the invading pathogen. A few examples of physical exclusion have been reported (4). Physical protection is more likely to exclude soil insects and nematodes than bacteria or fungi. However, some studies have shown that nematodes can penetrate the fungal mat (5).

• By providing antagonistic chemicals. Mycorrhizal fungi can produce a variety of antibiotics and other toxins that act against pathogenic organisms.

• By competing with the pathogen.

• By increasing the nutrient-uptake ability of plant roots. For example, improved phosphorus uptake in the host plant has commonly been associated with mychorrhizal fungi. When plants are not deprived of nutrients, they are better able to tolerate or resist disease-causing organisms.

• By changing the amount and type of plant root exudates. Pathogens dependent on certain exudates will be at a disadvantage as the exudates change.

That pretty much explains it in a nutshell. Now two products on the market that are Biofungicides that have shown to be effective against "Alternaria Solani" and what I was referring to in my statement concerning Early Blight are;
Actinovate-Streptomyces lydicus WYEC 108
Mycostop - Streptomyces griseoviridis

Ami

[bigbubbacain]

Thanks Ami!

I just want to be clear: when you refer to "two products on the market that are Biofungicides that have shown to be effective against Alternaria Solani" are you saying that these biofungicides kill Alternaria Solanii, slow down its progression, makes the plants resistant to the disease, etc.?

[barkeater]

Yes, how exactly does inoculating your soil protect from Early Blight when most of the spread is airborne?

[beeman]

We all seem to have missed the point. Tilling both spring and fall will destroy the natural Mycorrhize in the soil, breaking the strands. So adding it back by inoculation cannot be considered a waste of money or time.
If you're fortunate to have good soil, then lucky you, I'm not so lucky so I insist on adding mycorrhize, and it works for me.

[amideutch]

Sorry about the late response but this is my tomato plant out weekend. Still not done but the hard part is over.
Actinovate and Mycostop are strains of the bacteria Streptomyces. Streptomyces mode of action is Antibiosis. They produce a chemical compound such as an antibiotic or other toxin that kills the target organism. They do not have to be present in high numbers , but they need to exert their antibiotic effect before infection occurs. And as Mycorrhizae mechanisms are competition and enhanced nutrient uptake they all have their part in fighting disease, especially as a team.
As Early Blight resides in the soil and later can become airborne to act as a foliar pathogen, Mycostop and Actinovate work as a team where Mycostop is more effective in the soil and Actinovate more so as a foliar application. As I said before they have to exert their effect before infection occurs.
Mycostop used as a dry seed treatment prior to planting, soil drench after seedling emergence or after transplant. Actinovate as a foliar to combat the airborne component of the disease. Actinovate also should be used as a soil drench as it is effective also on other pathogens but for Early blight it's strain of Steptomyces seems to work better as a foliar than other's.
So the bottom line is don't wait till the disease appears to treat as you have to treat it before it appears. Ami

[b54red]

This may be a dumb question but are Mycorrhizae spores in mushroom compost? The reason I ask is when I was getting mushroom compost from a mushroom grower I would add it to my planting medium at pot up time and the root growth was explosive compared to using just the plain potting soil. The plants were bigger, healthier, and would develop dense root balls. I know the compost had some nutrient value but unlike fertilizing the plants the compost seemed to do much more than make them grow faster.

[amideutch]

Here's a link and you can draw your own conclusions. After reading the article I don't think so. Ami

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/new...toryType=garde

[dice]

It was probably simply the humic and fulvic acids in
the mushroom compost, along with the load of bacteria
and fungi that break down (eat) the original components
of the compost, that had this effect on the plants. These
humic substances chelate minerals for plant uptake and
catalyze certain molecular processes inside the plant. Any
other mature compost mixed in with the potting mix would
probably have similar effects.