“ Although healthy
MYCORRHIZAE
A Fungal Boost
Although healthy garden soils don ’ t need extra mycorrhizae , impoverished soils are a different matter . Earth that ’ s been tilled too often , former building sites full of rubble , or gardens made on soil exhausted through years of intensive agriculture will have ravaged ecosystems . You can tell simply by looking at the soil ; dig up a spadeful and you ’ ll find earthworms are noticeably absent . Mycorrhizal fungi evolved hundreds of millions of years ago to facilitate prehistoric plant growth in soils as bad or worse than anything you ’ ll find today . They empower plant partners to colonize soils contaminated with heavy metals , pollutants , salt , and worse . They are the reason why hot springs panic grass can grow around geothermal springs topping 120 ° F in Yellowstone National Park , temperatures which would kill both plant and fungus if growing on their own . So , adding mycorrhizae to poor soils often helps kickstart the process of soil improvement . Scatter a teaspoonful into a planting hole and plant directly on top so the mycorrhizae are in direct contact with roots . The spores colonize them within weeks , providing an instant injection of life into starved soil . Mycorrhizal fungi are most commonly used when planting fruit trees and bushes , especially in thin soils when mycorrhizae-inoculant sprinkled directly over the roots before planting can dramatically speed up the rate at which they establish . You can also use mycorrhizae scattered along the bottom of drills or into transplanting holes to help most vegetables , too . The only exceptions are fast-growing crops like salads , which are ready to harvest before the mycorrhizae have time to get to work , and brassicas , one of the few plant groups that don ’ t use mycorrhizae at all .
“ Although healthy
garden soils don ’ t need extra mycorrhizae , impoverished soils are a different matter .”
Potted Mushrooms
In the artificial environment of a container , mycorrhizal fungi inject a little earthy goodness into multipurpose compost . Biologically speaking , compost is largely a dead environment — synthetic nutrients supply food for your plants over about six weeks , after which you just start adding more yourself . Recreate that garden soil magic by adding a little life to your container compost . Mixing in worm compost or home-made garden compost is often enough ; rich and teeming with all sorts of bio-organisms as well as worms , it effectively revives sterile growing medium so your plants are growing in something approaching living soil . If you don ’ t have access to either compost or a wormery , though , mycorrhizal fungi will help . Containers are tough environments for plants , and mycorrhizal fungi help plants withstand the drier conditions and make better use of restricted nutrients . They ’ ll also help plants recover more quickly after repotting or root pruning . The exceptions are blueberries , which have their own ericoid mycorrhizae and can ’ t use the more common ones used in most commercially available products .
86 Maximum Yield USA | January 2017