© 1998 Streamline Publications

Biological alternatives to chemical controls have gained significant inroads in turf management, landscaping and revegetation efforts. This new awareness has fostered development of commercial products that can quickly restore microbial activity in topsoils that have been fumigated or have otherwise had such activity destroyed.
An extra benefit is that these organic soil amendments are proving quite useful in activating newly-exposed subsoils in disturbed areas so they may more quickly support the desired climax plant population. In post-construction landscape applications this approach has much to recommend it over replacing the original topsoil, which is likely to contain lots of weed seed. S&S Seeds distributes AM120 a mycorrhizal inoculant produced by Reforestation Technologies International—containing spores that develop beneficial fungi—fits the bill.

Potent Mix
The benefits of certain fungi on the plant rhizosphere—the soil surrounding and interacting with the plant's roots—have been proven through testing and use by Mother Nature for 500 million years. It is only recently that science has come to understand the symbiotic relationship between beneficial fungi and the host plant (see July '95 LEAF-let on Mycorrhizal Inoculation and March/April '96 LEAF-let on Plant Fungus, Bacteria). Microbial functions in the soil involving friendly microorganisms—fungi, bacteria, algae, protozoa and other organisms—are essential to plant growth, vigor and disease resistance.
Chemical-driven control techniques, mainstays of agriculture and ornamental horticulture for half a century, have created a chemical dependence in plants not unlike human chemical addictions. Use of pesticides and fungicides to eliminate harmful organisms kills beneficial microbes as well, leaving the soil less able to support plant growth. The plants become increasingly susceptible to disease. The symbiosis between the plant and the microbial community is damaged.
Most disease pathogens reproduce from spores, many of which are able to resist fungicides, and can become dominant. Returning balance to disturbed soil involves a complex minestrone of microbes, that together, generate a healthy underground environment for plants. Nature does the same—in her own sweet time—time we may not be able to afford. We need a way to jump-start the process of restoring this balance to the rhizosphere without resorting to harsh chemicals that can pose a threat to worker health.

To the Rescue
AM120 is a mixture of live endomycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi develop fine filaments that attach to the plant's roots and extend the roots' reach helping in uptake of essential nutrients and water.

A Plan
Exposed subsoils present two problems—susceptibility to erosion and inability to support a climax plant population. The pressing need is to first stabilize the soil, for without erosion resistance the question of higher order plants is moot. According to Paul Albright, of S&S Seeds, a typical approach involves hydroseeding the subsoil with a slurry containing:

• HYDROPOST Hydroseeding Compost—a natural organic fertilizer that will not harm the mycorrhizal inoculant as chemical fertilizers will
• Enviro Fiber Paper Fiber Mulch—most effective in combatting erosion
• Ecology Controls M-Binder—a naturally-derived soil binder
• AM120—a highly effective mycorrhizal inoculant
• Erosion and Succession Seed Mix—specially formulated for bioregion.

When the stabilized and newly vitalized soil is ready in a few years the desired climax population may be seeded with a very high chance for success.
The consultants at S&S Seeds can formulate a plan specifically for you to jump-start the natural process of successional revegetation. We help Mother Nature—known for taking her own sweet time—to step on it!
Start by filling out our Revegetation Plan - Seed Mix Design Criteria form for answers that make sense for your clients.

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