Mycorrhizal Fungi, Do I need them?
January 8, 2015
Most people do not understand how profoundly important it is to use Mycorrhizal Fungi when planting trees, shrubs, and lawns. If I ask most people what the main function of roots are they will answer….. to anchor the tree or plant in the ground and to take up water and nutrients. Well, only one of those answers is correct….to anchor the tree or plant in the ground. The next main function of a root is to act as an attachment site for Mycorrhizal Fungi. Mycorrhizae should be the primary way which trees and shrubs should take up water and nutrients. The fact that roots can take up water and nutrients is a secondary function which nature put in place in case roots where to loose there mycorrhizal association. Roots are not very efficient at taking up water and nutrients compared to Micorrhizae. They are thousands of times more efficient at taking up water and nutrients than roots. What you do when you inoculate roots………. you are increasing the surface absorption area several hundred to several thousands times. This is how natural systems work….think of old growth forests no body ever watered or fertilized those trees yet they are extremely large, vigorous, and mostly disease free. How did they grow so health without any input from man? It is the Mycorrhzal association in the soil which gets the majority of the water and nutrients to these trees and shrubs and also fight off pathogens in natural systems like these. the next questions most folks have is, If they are suppose to occur naturalyl in soil all over the planet shouldn’t the already be in the soil? The answer is no! Once you disturb, compact, or let soils go fallow you kill all of the mycorrhizae as well as the beneficial bacteria in the soil. they do not fall from the sky or blow in the wind or exsist in compost, so once they are gone they are gone. They could only be introduced by another plant which has never been disturbed, is fairly old and is close enough to get spores over to the new plants. This may take multiple decades to accomplish and only if there is nothing in there way like streets, sidewalks, and buildings. So that being said all trees, plants, and grass should be inoculated with Mycorrhizal Fungi. You will find that plants will establish faster and are able to overcome times of drought as well as disease. For more information on this subject please go to our distributors website on these amazing fungi. https://hortpros.com
