A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.
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March 8, 2015 | #16 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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I have just started playing around with aerated compost tea, and the first results are very promising.
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March 8, 2015 | #17 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 1,413
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Assuming purchase of a product is not an option, is there a good way to ensure that our gardens remain teaming with mycorrhizae? I have been growing mustard over most of the garden overwinter, but i just read an article that suggests mycorrhizae does not get along with brassicas.
I usually rake away the leaves at the edge of the woods and scrape up a few wheelbarrows full of the leaf mold and worm casts and place it in my beds just under the mulch. I always assumed that stuff was loaded with mycorrhizae, but I could be wrong. Last edited by Stvrob; March 8, 2015 at 07:37 PM. |
March 8, 2015 | #18 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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Quote:
Mycorrhizal Status of Plant Families and Genera If there are no mycorrhizal plants living in your soil year round then the mycorrhizae will die, that is if they were even there to begin with, which is unlikely because of the way most people grow annual vegetables. The only way to insure your plants are going to have a successful mycorrhizal relationship for that season is to inoculate them as early as possible as seedlings. Endo-Mycorrhizal fungi live underground and reproduce underground near their host roots, so that would make it very unlikely that there would even be any spores above ground. You'll get lots of good bacteria and saprophytic fungi from leaf mold and worm castings though. |
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March 8, 2015 | #19 | ||
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Quote:
As for your forest humus, great stuff, but unlikely to have the same types of Mycorrhizae that a tomato needs. There are two main groupings, Endomycorrhizal fungi and Ectomycorrhizal fungi. Again as a general rule, Ectomycorrhizal fungi are part of the forest biome and good for trees, grapes, strawberries, blackberries and things like that, Endomycorrhizal fungi as a general rule are more adapted for the grassland and annual crops most gardeners grow. There is some overlap. That leaves two strategies for inoculant products. The shotgun strategy uses a product with a bit of many species. Most home use products are like this including MycoGrow: Quote:
Also, many plants like Grapevines form association with both types of fungi, but there is a tendency to find more endomycorrhizal fungi on young vines. When the vines are 4-8 years old, there appears to be a shift towards ectomycorrhizal fungi. This has been linked by some researchers with increased grape quality. Hope that helps.
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Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture |
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March 8, 2015 | #20 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 1,448
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If you want to go full geek, here is a review from a few years ago.
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Blog: chriskafer.wordpress.com Ignorance more frequently begets knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. --Charles Darwin |
March 9, 2015 | #21 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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Here's a recent study about mycorrhizae and tomato from India
Comparative efficacy of different arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungal spp. (AMF) on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) |
March 10, 2015 | #22 | |
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Location: Land of the White Eagle
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Quote:
Anything fungal from Paul Stamets gets extra points, thanx for link. |
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March 10, 2015 | #23 |
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March 10, 2015 | #24 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
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I tested some of my saved seeds last fall, two flats of the same seed-starting mix. The only difference is that one got an initial drench of ACT. The ACT flat all came up more quickly. They had four leaves when the other flat had only two.
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March 10, 2015 | #25 | |
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Quote:
And towards the end of the season? any overall difference in taste, quantity, disease resistence, etc? |
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March 10, 2015 | #26 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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I dumped them, so I don't know. It was too late to plant out. This upcoming summer will be my first time with ACT in field-grown tomatoes. I make my beds out of the same material I make the tea from, the black topsoil from a cow field, so I would not expect big results. Those plants are getting the same stuff anyway. I think the biggest use of the tea in the field will be to be able to spray it over a larger area than I can cover with the compost itself.
Here is a good link about it: http://www.starrfarms.net/composttea.htm Last edited by Cole_Robbie; March 10, 2015 at 07:16 PM. |
Tags |
amf , mycorrhizal |
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