Fungal death?

bigblue · April 15, 2014

I was at the big orange box store this morning for a few items and found ProMix on sale. I was looking at the product and noticed they had a huge pile, most of it was soaked (wet) and it was obvious it had been left out all winter. In fact, deep in the center the bags were frozen solid and heavy enough I could barely move them and I assume they were probably all this way at some time. They had well over a hundred like this so I doubt they will be getting any new. My question is, since this product contains Mycorrhizae, well it be OK to use it or might the culture be weakened or even destroyed? Any ideas?

RayR · April 15, 2014

Well, I hope they have it on sale really really cheap, Leaving their inventory exposed out in the elements isn't too bright. They should probably pay you to haul the water soaked bails out of there.
Kmart did that here a few years ago with bags of pelleted dolomite, water got in an broke the pellets down. They were selling it for 25 cents a bag just to get rid of the mess.

Can't say if the mycorrhizae spores would be harmed or not over the winter, but not exactly recommended conditions for storage. You could shoot an e-mail to Premier and ask them.

bigblue · April 17, 2014

Ray, I took your advice and wrote to Premier. What follows is the response I received from Mr. Troy Buechel (of Premier). I thought this was very interesting and thought I should share with Tomatoville.

“We have found that any PRO-MIX product can withstand extreme cold. Keep in mind it is made in Manitoba which can go down to (and did) -50F. Our Mycorrhizae is native to Quebec, so it sees cold soil temperatures. Our tests show that the organisms can hold up to the cold, but sustained temperature above 110F could be a problem. The small starter fertilizer charge (which lasts 7-10 days) and wetting agent last longer in frozen product, so they should change very little. You may also want to look at the production date on the side of the bale (code is a series of black numbers, 1" tall). It is listed as YYYY/MM/DD. If the date is more than 1 year old, then it may be hard to wet with water and the fertilizer charge is gone. Please me know if there are other questions.”

April 15, 2014	#1
bigblue Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Michigan Zone 6a Posts: 35	Fungal death? I was at the big orange box store this morning for a few items and found ProMix on sale. I was looking at the product and noticed they had a huge pile, most of it was soaked (wet) and it was obvious it had been left out all winter. In fact, deep in the center the bags were frozen solid and heavy enough I could barely move them and I assume they were probably all this way at some time. They had well over a hundred like this so I doubt they will be getting any new. My question is, since this product contains Mycorrhizae, well it be OK to use it or might the culture be weakened or even destroyed? Any ideas?

April 15, 2014	#2
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	Well, I hope they have it on sale really really cheap, Leaving their inventory exposed out in the elements isn't too bright. They should probably pay you to haul the water soaked bails out of there. Kmart did that here a few years ago with bags of pelleted dolomite, water got in an broke the pellets down. They were selling it for 25 cents a bag just to get rid of the mess. Can't say if the mycorrhizae spores would be harmed or not over the winter, but not exactly recommended conditions for storage. You could shoot an e-mail to Premier and ask them.

April 17, 2014	#3
bigblue Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Michigan Zone 6a Posts: 35	Ray, I took your advice and wrote to Premier. What follows is the response I received from Mr. Troy Buechel (of Premier). I thought this was very interesting and thought I should share with Tomatoville. “We have found that any PRO-MIX product can withstand extreme cold. Keep in mind it is made in Manitoba which can go down to (and did) -50F. Our Mycorrhizae is native to Quebec, so it sees cold soil temperatures. Our tests show that the organisms can hold up to the cold, but sustained temperature above 110F could be a problem. The small starter fertilizer charge (which lasts 7-10 days) and wetting agent last longer in frozen product, so they should change very little. You may also want to look at the production date on the side of the bale (code is a series of black numbers, 1" tall). It is listed as YYYY/MM/DD. If the date is more than 1 year old, then it may be hard to wet with water and the fertilizer charge is gone. Please me know if there are other questions.”