[compost_tea] mycorrhizae and companies selling them - all not quiet in Sparkle City

From: chris reid <reidchris_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:02:29 -0400

Tom Jaszewski makes a point I find very relevant - coring and spore
application via cores is not cost effective on any large scale, especially
when working with roses and perennials. I spent at least 4 hours the other
day and applied spores to maybe 25 plants. I was stunned. 6 holes per
plant, add the spores to each hole, fill in the holes. I'm rethinking this
process before I proceed.

Tom, could you say more on injection methods? I think that would be very
useful to hear.

Since I keep reading posts recommending Mycorrhizal Applications and their
great technical support, I want to report that I have almost ordered from MA
twice, only to be put off by the vague replies I have received on my
questions from those answering their mail. Correspondence to "Dr Mike" did
not receive a response from Dr. Amaranthus, but rather from the same person
who had so vaguely answered my questions on application methods (and
criticized the competition to boot), and no statement of his credentials to
take Dr. Mike's place in answering his mail. I wrote to Dr. Mike to hear
from Dr. Mike or someone Dr. Mike thinks can answer questions at his level.
This person did not do so.

I posted a message a number of weeks ago describing the tone and
unprofessional competition-criticizing that went on in this exchange -- and
Elaine INgham said I should change companies and she recommended MA. I
didn't want to say so at the time, but the company she thought was
conducting itself so badly WAS Mycorrhizal Applications.

I also contacted a company MA recommended -- Mycorrhizal Products, who
sells MA's spores at retail in slightly different formulations, I gather. I
at first was going to try to meet the minimum to order from MA, but after
the kind of technical responses I was NOT getting, could not justify
convincing somebody else to go in with me. Then I looked at the (confusing)
web literature from the company they recommended, Mycorrhizal Products. I
had read an article about high plant phosphorus levels affecting spore
inoculation success, and asked Mycorrhizal Products if this was a concern,
which sells formulations of MA's spores as well. I didn't want to spend the
customer's money on an ill-advised application, and the customer's summer
2003 soil test had come back very high on phosphorus on an old fertilizer
application from the year before.

The president of that company, MP, wrote back that fertilizer does not
affect mycorrhizae. Period. No explanation or clarification. When I sent
the link to the article to clarify my concerns, I got a long email
unsolicited testimonial back saying how great Dr. Mike's products were
because they had a big variety of spores in them and that's why she chose to
affiliate with Dr. Mike -- and no direct response to the query. I guess
maybe she meant that different spores respond differently to different
environments, but that's my creative thinking coming to figure out what she
meant.

The president also wrote back that she had never heard of any customer who
had not had success with their spores, which is a report of a track record
that I frankly find dubious and which puts all other statements by this
person in question, because they are "sales talk", not straight answers. If
there is no customer anywhere who has at the very least misapplied and
complained when no results occurred, they must be using the MENSA mailing
list.

Tried to find the posts to quote exactly rather than characterize, but
couldn't quickly do so.

I have heard from others off list who have had problems getting straight,
useful answers from MA. Maybe we're all too polite to contradict the main
recommendation here in public.

I have decided to handle the situation by buying a textbook on mycorrhizae,
educating myself, and then deciding what product to buy as my personal
experience has been that there is not good technical information easily
available through these companies.

Chris Reid

________________________________________________________________________




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/0PSxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
compost_tea-unsubscribe_at_yahoogroups.com

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




Received on Mon Sep 29 2003 - 09:33:18 EDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:14:47 EST