Fertile soil--What is it

[Chuck]

Without fertile soil our gardens won't grow much of anything. But what is it? First of all what is soil, fertile or not? Simply put, soil is the dead remains of anything and everything that has ever lived since time began and that stuff is called Organic Matter. But how in the world you ask can a giant tree or a dinosaur or a field mouse become soil? Mother Nature once again comes to the rescue and give us tools to alleviate all of those pesky odors of dead dinosaurs and piles of dead brush littering the landscape and these tools are called fungi and bacteria, together called micro-organisms They live in the soil and together they turn all of that Organic Matter into something called micronutrients that provide food for the plants that will provide us supper tonight and one of the stars on the fungi team is named Mycorrhizae Fungi or MF for short. When MF is happy and healthy our tomato plants are happy and we are happy. This is Fertile Soil. But what happens if MF and his team start to become unhappy? He and his team are getting hungry and when MF gets hungry he gets pesky. So in order to keep MF happy we feed him more of his favorite food, Organic Matter

 

[headfullofbees]

Mycorrhizal fungi are only now becoming easily available in the UK.
Two brand names which I've used for some time are "Rootgrow," and "Vaminoc".
What mycorrizal fungi do, are to "infect" the plant's roots, (this alone triggers the plants defences) but once in there, it forms a mutualistically beneficial symbiotic relationship. It forms a huge, secondary root system which, in exchange for an unnoticable amount of the plant's carbohydrate, helps to unlock nutrients in the soil, and to make the plant far more drought-tolerant.

So, for a tiny fraction of a plant's carbohydrate, you get, increased disease immunity, larger, healthier plants and an earlier, larger yield, for less fertiliser. (In fact it doesn't like petrochemical fertilisers, and is one of the reasons that we keep having to add more and more when we start off down that road)

I add a sprinkle to my seed trays, just below seed level, at sowing time.

Mycorrhizal fungi do not form this relationship with brassicas.

 

[Chuck]

Mycorrhizal fungi are only now becoming easily available in the UK.
Two brand names which I've used for some time are "Rootgrow," and "Vaminoc".
What mycorrizal fungi do, are to "infect" the plant's roots, (this alone triggers the plants defences) but once in there, it forms a mutualistically beneficial symbiotic relationship. It forms a huge, secondary root system which, in exchange for an unnoticable amount of the plant's carbohydrate, helps to unlock nutrients in the soil, and to make the plant far more drought-tolerant.

So, for a tiny fraction of a plant's carbohydrate, you get, increased disease immunity, larger, healthier plants and an earlier, larger yield, for less fertiliser. (In fact it doesn't like petrochemical fertilisers, and is one of the reasons that we keep having to add more and more when we start off down that road)

I add a sprinkle to my seed trays, just below seed level, at sowing time.

Mycorrhizal fungi do not form this relationship with brassicas.

You are right in everything you have just posted. There are mycorrizae in every soil occuring naturally and unfortunately, using chemical fertilizers greatly reduce and in some cases eliminate them altogether. By being organic we protect these organisms and even propagate them.

 

[headfullofbees]

What a difference:

If even that does not impress you, the fact that the mycorrhizal roots are extremely fine, so that laid out, they'd reach for miles, may.
Also, because mycorrhizal fungi have such a wide range of hosts, if you leave any plants in the ground after harvest, EVEN WEEDS, and you don't till the soil too deeply, you'll only have to apply it once!

 

[Chuck]

What a difference:

If even that does not impress you, the fact that the mycorrhizal roots are extremely fine, so that laid out, they'd reach for miles, may.
Also, because mycorrhizal fungi have such a wide range of hosts, if you leave any plants in the ground after harvest, EVEN WEEDS, and you don't till the soil too deeply, you'll only have to apply it once!

Another example of a picture being worth a thousand words. I wonder if there are any chemical gardners out there who can even come close to this. Of course not, chemicals only take from the soil, never give.