Mychorrizal Symbiosis

[Seagull]

I am looking for a good organic fertilizer for my container garden (don't have access to good compost). I found a brand that advertises that it contains mychorrizal fungus. I am familiar with these fungus from their natural symbiosis with Red Alder trees where they fix nitrogen in the soil, but have never heard of using them in a garden.

Has anyone every used these before, that is innoculated their tomato plants with them? Does it actually work? It seems that since tomatos need a lower amount of nitrogen that anything fixing nitrogen in the soil would be create too much nitrogen??

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[matty]

You can start your own culture, without spending money too you know... http://www.sunseed.org.uk/page.asp?p=167 . But it does a whole more than just fix nitrogen. It helps to build up resistance to disease and uptake nutrients, increase drought resistance etc. I have even read that you can just get soil containing Mycorrhizal fungi and mix it with the seeds. I plan on trying it though in the next few weeks. I have some leguminous trees (Gliricidia sepium) i planted a year or so ago, and want to just scrape the soil and mix it with seed i am direct sowing... Should really make it an experiment i guess, with a control and whatnot... But dont spend money when you dont have to... But it is not the be all, as nutrient availability will also dictate how good your plants are. And as for access to good compost, well, the best time to start your own heap was five minutes ago! In the meantime, use some ash as well on your tomatoes... There is a thread on that somewhere round here...

[Seagull]

Thanks Matty for the advice! That's an interesting technique for growing the spores. Unfortunately time is a limiting factor for me at the moment, so I may just spend the nine euro and buy the fertilizer with fungus. If I get a little free time, I'll try that method out.

I would love to have a compost pile! My flat-mates nixxed the idea though of having one on our balcony, something about "smell" and "unsightly" . I've been thinking about asking my neighbors down below if I could put a compost bin in their yard to share. They look rather uptight though, so I don't know...

[Shirley]

Interesting stuff! I'll take a closer look when I've got a minute but have added the sunseed site to my favourites.

[Jack]

Gidday

Hey Matty, that is really brilliant. Top marks to you mate.

I was about to answer Seagull's question but read that link first. It contains far better info than I could have given.

However, one way I was going to suggest the spreading of the mychorrizal fungus, is getting a little bit of high fungus content compost, putting it in a bag in a bucket of water and aerating the water for 24 to 36 hours and spraying that over your soil.

I had ben thinking of buying some mychorrizal fungus, but now I see I can get it myself.

Thanks again mate.

[Thomzo]

I would love to have a compost pile! My flat-mates nixxed the idea though of having one on our balcony, something about "smell" and "unsightly"

What about a wormery? I made one out of an old paint tub. I made a tiny hole in the bottom for the liquid to leak out of and some pin holes in the top for air. Then I stood the whole thing on 3 old yogurt pots. The liquid out of the hole falls into one of the pots and gets used as plant food.

You could set it up surreptitiously when he's not looking. He might not even notice

Zoe

[Seagull]

What kind of stuff do you put in your wormery? Everything you'd put in a compost pile? Just kitchen scraps? Just plant waste? I think I may be able to sneek that by! What is the maximum temperature that the worms can withstand? My balcony can get really hot, upwards of 40 degrees celsius.