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Mycorrhizal fungi are not only important to the health of most plants, they can save on material and labor costs for fertilizer, soil media and pesticides. This beneficial fungus occurs naturally in soil but cannot survive steam pasteurization and fumigation (used to eliminate soil pathogens) and certain fungicides.

"I don't care if it is beneficial, it gives me the willies."

The beneficial effect on plants is manyfold. The mycorrhizal fungi grow in the plant's root cells or as a root sheath. The fungus' filaments grow outward from the roots, penetrating into the surrounding soil. The effect is that the root's reach is extended, sometimes by as much as 1,000 times the length of the entire plant root system.
These fungal extensions transport nutrients from the surrounding soil back to the host plant. The fungi assist the plant in its uptake of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), silicon (Si), aluminum (Al) zinc (Z) and water. All the mycorrhiza takes back from the plant is carbon (C) that it needs for its own growth and reproduction. This lopsided symbiotic relationship is truly beneficial to the plant.

Getting It Back
Mycorrhizal fungi are not only lost through soil sterilization, pesticide or fungicide use, they could be lost due to long periods of fallow, flooding, construction grading or erosion. Researchers have found that phosphorous and zinc deficiencies can result from a long-fallow condition. The absence of host plants leads to absence of mycorrhizal fungi as well.
The good news is that the condition is easily reversible by using a commercially available endomycorrhizal inoculum. The inoculum is a mixture made of endomycorrhizal spores, host plant roots and a sterilized media.
Depending on the types of plants to be treated, there are a variety of application methods. In nurseries and orchards the inoculum can be mixed into planting soil, added during transplanting, inserted into probed holes at the plant root zone or used in conventional fertilizer banding equipment. For seed beds it can be layered 1/2 inch below the seed or broadcast over the surface and rototilled in.

Fungus Affects Bottom Line
According to University of California scientists, mycorrhizal inoculation is usually most responsive at low fertility levels, increasing growth rate, plant quality, and survivability and at the same time reducing fertilizer, material and labor costs.
Increased growth rates in citrus crops have been shown to be up to 200 percent for field-grown and over 2,000 percent for citrus in fumigated nursery soil treated with mycorrhizal inoculant. The plants are more resistant to drought and environmental stress, and have increased transplant survivability. These healthier plants are less vulnerable to pathogens.
Paul Albright and the knowledgeable consultants at S&S Seeds have full details on how mycorrhizal fungi can work for you and for your bottom line. Give them a call soon.

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