Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

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greenknight
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Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

I have seen claims that inoculating cactus soil with mycorrhizae (beneficial fungi) produced excellent results. I had some inoculant left over that I bought for an asparagus bed I planted, and I had some cactus cuttings that needed repotting, so I decided to do a test to see how much difference it actually made. I also had trichoderma, which prevents root rot, unfortunately it's expired so I won't be testing it.

The product I used is a general-purpose granular formulation containing a wide range of different mycorrhizae - should be something in there that's compatible with the cacti, I think. The plants are 4 cuttings of my little monstrose Opuntiad (Austrocylindropuntia of some kind?) and 3 cuttings of Mammillaria elongata. There's also a volunteer Parodia scopa seedling which I gave the treatment; don't have a control for it, but I took its picture anyway.

Here are the "before" pictures, freshly repotted. The ones in green pots received the inoculant; the others are the controls, which did not. Probably be next year before results will be apparent. Anyway, here they are:
Attachments
As you can see, 2 were thriving, 2 weren't; one of each got the inoculant.
As you can see, 2 were thriving, 2 weren't; one of each got the inoculant.
Pic-20130813-002.jpg (233.23 KiB) Viewed 6425 times
With only 3 Mamm.s, treated the strongest and the weakest, made the in-between one the control.
With only 3 Mamm.s, treated the strongest and the weakest, made the in-between one the control.
Pic-20130813-001.jpg (235.2 KiB) Viewed 6425 times
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BobbyZ
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by BobbyZ »

Keep us posted biofertilization/disease control should work. For a real test don't apply any phosphorous fertilizer. We may all adopt this practice Bobby Z
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

There's earthworm compost in the potting mix, all the nutrients they need. The only ones I give extra fertilizer to are the big flower producers, to try and coax more blooms; these little guys won't be getting any.
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BobbyZ
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by BobbyZ »

I have just read a label of a Canadian brand of cactus soil Premier Nature mix has at least one of two species of glomulus per gram of media. I do mix with vermiculite, peagravel and crushed lava rock to increase porosity. My apartment cacti here in Ontario look good but I don't have a balanced experiment. Bobby Z
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

Well, they all came through the repotting fine. I waited a week for the roots to heal, then gave them a good watering. They've all plumped up and look healthy. I'm keeping them in separate trays to avoid cross-contamination. Now, we wait and see.

I've seen ads for cactus mix that has mycorrhizae already in it - I wonder how long it stays viable?
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BobbyZ
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by BobbyZ »

As long as the moisture level is low depending on species they can remain viable for years. They usually have a mixture of Glomulus species to broaden the host range. Once the spores germinate they have anextensive network of mycelia that can spread many centimeters.
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

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Right - it can remain viable for years if dry, but potting mix normally is damp. Does it germinate and grow in the bag? If so, how long can it survive like that? Maybe the manufacturer could provide answers, I sure don't know. :-k

Occurs to me that I should mention just what product I'm using. Copied from the PDF of the label (deleted the quantities since they've changed since it was posted online):

Granular Root Growth Enhancer
Down To Earth Distributors, Inc.

Endomycorrhizal fungi:
Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae, Glomus aggregatum, Glomus etunicatum

Ectomycorrhizal fungi:
Rhizopogon villosullus, Rhizopogon luteolus, Rhizopogon amylopogon, Rhizopogon fulvigleba; Pisolithus tinctorius;
Scleroderma Cepa and Scleroderma citrinum
_______________________________

Seems like there should be something in all that that's compatible with the cacti. :) The expiration date on this stuff was only a couple years after I bought it, but maybe they're being conservative.
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BobbyZ
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by BobbyZ »

Here is a quick copy of an abstract from Mycologia (1980 from Oregon State Researchers (Danieal and Trappe) Soil moisture, temperature, and-to a lesser degree-pH influenced germination of Glomus epigaeus spores, whereas levels of soil fertility and spore density had little or no effect. Maximum germination occurred in soil at moisture levels at or above field capacity, between 18 and 25 C and at pH 6-8. No germination occurred in autoclaved forest, dune, and agricultural soils or in gamma-irradiated or steamed Chehalis silt loam; however, 65-80% germination occurred in most nonsterile soils and in both autoclaved and nonsterilized kaolin and activated charcoal. Germination was similar in nonsterile Chehalis soil containing nonmycorrhizal, ectomycorrhizal, or vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizal hosts, even Two other VA-mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus mosseae and Gigaspora gigantea, germinated readily in nonsterile soil as well. Optimum germination of spores seems closely related to conditions that are optimum for growth of many host plants.

Ectomycorrhizae are generally for coniferous forest trees, but the endomycrhhizal should benefit root development. Soil mix although feeling moist would be much lower than field capacity, also root exudates turns on spore germination and growth to the plant root Bobby Z
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CactusFanDan
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by CactusFanDan »

One limitation I'd have thought with these mycorrhizal species is that a lot of them won't be very tolerant of the mycelia drying out completely. Cacti make mycorhizal associations in the wild, but they will be with different, drought tolerant species. Who knows though, you might get results. Will be interesting to see. :D
-Dan
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BobbyZ
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by BobbyZ »

Hey what do you expect from a soil microbiologist. Here are a two links to pdf's on mycorrhizae and estanblishment. Yes there are soil factors and host-microbe interactions with the diversity of species in yourr soilmix something shouls work. Field capacity is the moisture for optimum spore germination and root infection, however once in the roots they are home and working. Don't foget root exudation keeps the moisture in the rhizoplane moister than bulk soil. Hey maybe we can organize a balanced test in several geographical areas with several species, maybe even publish in the CSSA journal. I can set one up in Florida, Cactus Dan would you do in Manchester and Mr Knight in Washington. Green Knight and I can buy seedlings from the same site and use the same soil or do with seeds. Measure initial root length and biomass of the body. Ii could be fun and good. I can ask some colleagues to stain roots and microscopically examine.
http://www.bashanfoundation.org/gabor/gabordesert.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://treephys.oxfordjournals.org/cont ... 7.full.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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CactusFanDan
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by CactusFanDan »

Good PDFs, Bobby. It seems that G. mosseae is indeed an important species in arid areas. I wonder if other Glommus species found in commercial innoculants would be capable of surviving for prolonged periods of drought. As for taking part in this experiment, I'd love to, but I feel there are too many control variables which it wouldn't be possible to achieve across continents. Light levels are significantly lower here, for example. Also the innoculant used, soil mixes used, clones of plant used, watering regime, temperature, pot size etc. would all be too difficult for me to make comparable to everyone else's conditions to allow for fair comparison. Also I'm back to University next month, so I might not have as much time to dedicate to such an endeavour. Thank you for the offer, though. :)
-Dan
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There is always one more glochid. Somewhere.
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

I think the point is to do the same test under widely varying conditions, we would each grow test subjects and controls. I can't afford to spend much, but I do have time. I have a little garden starter greenhouse to assemble, I could devote a corner of that to the project. Maybe start in the spring?
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

CactusFanDan wrote:<snip> It seems that G. mosseae is indeed an important species in arid areas. I wonder if other Glommus species found in commercial innoculants would be capable of surviving for prolonged periods of drought. <snip>
In that first PDF, which documents a survey of Southern Californis desert sites, it mentions 2 of the 4 species in the product I've been using - Glomus intraradices and Glomus mosseae - as having been found in the sandy slope area they surveyed. Every host had mosseae, though, while only a few had intraradices.
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DaveW
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by DaveW »

Found this thread when I was Googling for mycorrhizal fungi since some British growers were trying something called Rootgrow. Rather than post all the links twice I will link to my post elsewhere:-

http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic ... 1&t=161357" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did any of you get any significant results from your trials?
peterb
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by peterb »

I'll be interested to follow this thread as I have suspected that certain very "difficult" cacti in cultivation are lacking a crucial subsoil root association of some kind. It could explain why, for example, Echinomastus erectocentrus is very difficult to re-establish after it has been rescued from construction sites or what have you, unless it is planted in native soil. In particular, certain difficult cacti simply fail to thrive after a time and perhaps this is because a mycorrhizal associate has expired in the root zone. I'm not sure how one would go about testing this.

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