Re: [compost_tea] Mycorrhizal Fungi

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 01:34:53 EDT

Why would mycorrhizal fungi not be meant to be sprayed? Mycorrhizal fungi
should be present as spores in the material you buy. If they aren't spores,
then the shelf life is very short. The hyphae in roots probably died while they
were sitting around getting ready to be shipped.

If they are present as spores, then addition to tea is not a problem.
Spraying them is not a problem, as long as they don't germinate and start to grow in
the tea. Germinated spores are very sensitive to any pressure, and they will
likely not make it through the pump.

Just make sure to add the spores to the tea, and spray within 4 hours or so.
It generally takes that long for even a few spores to wake up and start to
germinate.

Now, spraying spores on the soil surface may not do much good - the spores
stick to organic matter, and then don't move further in the soil. But you can
spray the spores onto seed surfaces, or root surfaces without any problem.
Spraying into planting holes and aeration holes in turf, into potting mix should
work just fine.

OK?

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com
SFI Oregon, USA
SFI Australia
SFI New York
SFI Europe
SFI New Zealand

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well,
but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how things
turn out." -- Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic





Received on Sun Sep 28 2003 - 10:52:38 EDT

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