Garden Talk: Anyone used mycorrhiza?

It's going to take me a while to write up all that I wanted to say. I intend to make a document on our web site that will fully explain the facets of VAM fungi as it relates to phosphorous.

Let's look at costs. I posted above that the cost per plant for BioVam's use was pennies. I also stated that if one were following Ruth Stouts methods and treated their plants with BioVam, the cost would still be pennies and in high volume cases the cost would be far less that 1 cent per plant when using Ruth’s methods. That recipe of ingredients that are mixed into 1.5 cubic feet of potting soil which could be used to start up dozens of plants works out to pennies per plant.

How can you get into problems with Phosphorus on your VAM treated plants you ask? You have to create the problem after the fact of treating your plants or before you treat your plants. We tell our customers what not to do so they don't add things to the soils that will cause problems. All of those problem situations are short lived in the soils before the P becomes bound up. Byron doesn't understand these things and his claim that a soil test has to be made before using VAM fungi is incorrect.

In California and in other parts of the nation there are soils that are barren and crops will no longer grow in those soils. BioVam can be added to the roots of plants and they will grow in those soils.

In California, there was a field test done at a nursery where they planted Azaleas treated with BioVam in soils that were 8.5 pH. Untreated Azalea plants died in those soils. The BioVam treated plants grew just fine.

Dave, this thread is long for sure. But, I have a request. Would you mind if I start another another topic on vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM)? I've been researching this and I've found lots and lots of information that I'm going to have to go through to answer Byron's questions. I'm in the process of printing it all out now and highlighting specific points. It's going to take me a while to finish this and I'm not sure if I'll finish by your deadline of tonight. If you should say "no" to my request, I will, of course, respect your wishes and do my best to post at least a small part of it by tonight by editing this post. Thank you! :)

Terri,

Sure, let's start a new thread. You will be the starter of the thread, so start it at your leisure. We'll keep it free of advertisements, and make it a pure informational thread on vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae.

Dave

I have just read through a lot of these posts with my wife, who is a professional reearch scientist. She observes that there is much incorrect information or at best half~truths offered herein as fact.

As a result, we are offering this link:

http://mycorrhiza.ag.utk.edu/

Adam.

ThomasGiannou posts a reply that says Rhubarb is nonmycorrhizal. He/she also implies that rhubarb is a member of the Brassica family and as such is non-mycorrhizal. The only problem with that statement is that Rheum (rhubarb) is a member of the Polygonaceae (buckwheat) family and not a member of the Brassica. I have worked with mycorrhizae for 25 years and do realize they don't like the Brassica's. However I have not found any evidence yet that mycorrhizal fungi will not form with the polygonaceae.