Do You Need to Buy or Gather Mycorrhizal Fungi?

In this short excerpt of the conversation that I had with Keith Reid about soil, Keith answers three questions:
What is mycorrhizal fungi, and why is it important for the home gardener?
Do home gardeners need to buy mycorrhizal fungi?
Does it make to gather soil from a forest floor to inoculate your gardening soil with mycorrhizal fungi?
If you found this conversation interesting, why not listen to the whole thing! There's a link at the end to the video of my conversation with Keith. Alternatively, you can go to maritimegardening.com and download it, and any of my other podcast episodes for free!!!
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[@bradlafferty]

Excellent information! You just saved me money and affirmed my no-dig approach!

[@BryceGarling]

Our property lacked a lot. I used the forest method and mainly focus or root tips. One of the trees is 1000 years old. I gather mushrooms when fruiting and place in my trees root zone. Pisolothus spores I mix with flour. It all seem extremely effective. No commercial products I ever tried have worked at all.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Good stuff!

[@Jordy40Growing]

Compost , gro kashi mixed in it then sprinkle some on top, compost tea and cover with something two to three days you will have a good mycelium mat.

[@rinogodbout4855]

Thank you for the answer to mycorrhizal fungi inoculation. I do not till or disturb my soil in any way so I should be good to go.

[@maritimegardening4887]

You got it :)

[@seek2find]

I accidentally discovered that adding some soaked wood pellets to the bottom of my potting soil in my container created a growth of mycorrhizae fungi. I don't remember what brand of wood stove pellets I had kicking around, my intent was to create a micro hugelkultur experiment in a potted plant.

[@bojskiable]

thats a great tip thanks

[@maggarlion]

I need it for both my garden and my lawn. You have to ensure you have roots or you can add it to seed when you are doing an overseed or reseed. I use it in shaded areas alot. It makes the roots stronger. I add it with Jonathan Green Shady knooks seed and the grass has never looked better. It normally became dormant in the winter and reappear in the spring thru fall. With the addtion of the fungi the grass remains fairly sturdy during the last winter. I must add that although it dipped below freezing a few times we only had 1 or 2 coating of snow last season here in the Westchester County NY. We already got our first coating this weekend. Lets see how the mycorrhizae work this winter on the roots.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.

[@lanceowens5902]

Love the background music brother

[@flatsville1]

The best way to spread native endo-myco it to go to tne edges of an undisturbed hedgerow, hardwood lot or prarie & use a deep narrow spade to bring up perennial plants with some roots & soil attached. Trim off leaves & stems above the organic layer horizon. Cut up roots & soil into chunks. Take it to your new garden area & bury it 4-6 in down. Plant seedling or direct seed within a 1-2 inches or place it deep in a seedling hole. Work fast & if there's a chance of the chopped soil & root matter heating up, place zip locked bags of ice in the bottom of your bucket or tubs & cover to keep it cool. Cover to shade. Do this in early spring or late fall when outdoor hot temps are not an issue. Heat will kill endo-myco quicky. Make sure to bury the chopped up roots & soil to protect the endo-myco. (DON'T "sprinkle" it on top & then cover.) The newly planted nearby seedlings/seeds will eventually benefit. If doing this in the fall throw down some fall winter kill covercrop seeds to futher establish the endo-myco in the soil until cold temps put it into dormancy & kill off the cover crop.

[@Ryin88]

So Ive got some compacted clay soil, and the builders of my home seemed to dump/bury building waste in the soil. Ive found shingles, huge rocks etc. So my plan is to till first the first few feet to loosen the soil and dig up the trash, then do a no till and add wood chips. was considering buying Mycorrhizae for my garden beds, but i took a look under the much and saw the white stuff. The store bought Mycorrhizae was expensive and you saved me some cash ! lol

[@maritimegardening4887]

Just keep it mulched and it should all work out fine. Let me know how it goes :)

[@codniggh1139]

In my pots, mycorrhizal spores worked fabulously, really, it's a difference so huge.

[@johnhazaras3160]

The only place where I have seen the fungi in my gardens and I'm referring to the white strands just under the surface of the soil is where I had placed lots of wood chips and it's mostly around my spruce and fir trees. I also see mushrooms popping up in these locations in late summer and fall. So I'm just guessing here but anywhere you use a forest mulch made up of leaves and wood chips and twigs etc would be a healthy growing medium for fungi. That being said it's not always easy growing veggies in a bed with forest mulch because wood chips are pretty hard and I usually just use them in paths or under trees but this year I have put them on 3 of my beds as an experiment do well see if my plants react any differently with a hay or straw mulch

[@maritimegardening4887]

Not every type is visible to the naked eye, and really any organic mulch will support it. Soils that support fields have it too right :) It's not just a woodchip thing.

[@johnhazaras3160]

@@maritimegardening4887 where I am most farmers are growing soya beans or corn and they usually till the soil which either destroys it or severely damages the funji. Not to mention chemicals use. In the field close to my house I don't see anything living in the soil, worms or bugs. My chickens rarely go into the fields searching for food. I agree that any organic material will feed organisms but my point with forest mulch is that it contains leaves, twigs, bark and wood chips and pine needles etc and the combination has all of different nutrients. I've never seen mushrooms growing out of my hay or straw mulch but I'm sure that also feeds organisms. I've seen notill farming being done is USA where they grow a cover crop first and then crimp it with special equipment and then direct seed into the soil through the mulch. But you need a long growing season to grow 2 crops and maintain no till without using chemicals. But this method will slowly building up the soil and micro organisms. I can't see commercial no till in most parts of Canada because the season is not long enough.

[@ObjectiveMedia]

@@maritimegardening4887 but mycorrhizal fungi feed on carbon so he’s kinda right... I’ve done tests and I don’t think they can exist in soil where there is no wood/carbon for them to feed on

[@flatsville1]

The whitish strands seen in wood chip are more likely than not saprophytic (decay) fungi. The type of endo-myco most gardeners want, the types that invade plant root cell walls, cannot be seen with the naked eye & must be gathered & grown out from the deeply dug plant roots & surrounding soil from a longtime understurbed petennial area....like a grassy, weedy area along a perennial hedgerow, nearby a woodlot or from a prarie stand. You need to spade up the deeper plant roots & the clinging dirt to get the endo-myco spores to transfer to your garden. Do it as fast as possible keeping the samples cool (bag of ice in a tub or bucket) as even moderate heat will kill endo-myco spores. Bury your endo-myco in your garden area 4-6 in deep to also protect from heat. Plant your seedlings or seed in immedtiately adjacent to or on top of the burired endo-myco.

[@jthepickle7]

If you drive to where they propagate the fungi, with an ice chest full of ice, and buy the innoculant, put it immediately on ice, you're good. If the package gets warm you will have dead fungi.

[@stephenabbey6728]

Great song . The tea party.

[@michaellippmann4474]

Good Job Greg...great information as usual! Thank you!

[@SimplyGarden]

Great information. Learned something new. Thank you

[@maritimegardening4887]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ambersykora352]

I can prove it. I did the same with woody squishy chunks of old tree branches and stems etc, broken down fall leaves from various types of trees, a bit of broken down leaves and twigs and other compost I had put on and tote and added earthworms and compost worms in and left for the last year and a half. I built a raised bed in my side yard. Full Texas sun all day. When I went to fill the bed I used the soil I had used to make an above ground failed raised bed directly beneath a huge ash tree in my backyard. So I filled it in layers and added lots of leaves and squishy branches and took chunks of colonies from my cold slow compost pile and my hot compost pile. Then if planted a few strawberries. Only one survived. The one I had added a huge handful of fungi grown on leaves that created colony throughput the entire garbage bag, that also had worms. Only the hat plant survived. Also have 2 huge 3 year old swiss chard plants in it that take up roughly 4 almost 5 feet....and some wild walking onions and lettuces. I've only watered them twice in the last year or so. All of it is still going. Initially I also added decayed woodchips in it and on top, then used cut grass later also. It's still going in almost 100 degree weather and no water

[@maritimegardening4887]

A lack of m-fungi would not cause all your s-berries to die. I didn't do what you describe above with any of my strawberries and they are all fine. It's likely that there is some other reason that they died.

[@blackrocks8413]

To paraphrase a YT soil scientist. I already have about a 100 types of mycorrhizal fungi, most people do. So buying a bag full that is made in lab is kind of foolish. They create 3 types in a different state that are not even native. Are the other 97 types not doing a good job already? And its very succeptable to heat, so when you buy a bag in a garden store shipped in hot trucks is it even alive anymore? Bacteria help mycorrhizal fungi to support plant growth, its in your soil naturally. Its very likely your soild does not need more. That website that said 'you need to add this', are they the ones selling $30 bags of it??

[@maritimegardening4887]

All good points :)

[@1961Lara]

Who would give this a thumbs down?? People are weird...

[@JesusSoonComing]

A person who has proven it to be wrong maybe?

[@JesusSoonComing]

Here is some information for you who don't believe. I bought 4 bare root trees, and only one seemed to be growing. The other three were still dormant. I learned about Mycorrhizae, and thought, this would be a perfect solution since there were barely any roots on the other 3 trees, and if the fungi could attach to the roots, maybe it could boost the plants out of dormacy by helping them get enough nutrients required. Well, it's been only 3 days, and after 2 days, one of the trees (the smallest one) started budding. Now, can I give this credit to the fungi, well, why not? I gave the tree over a month, checking every day for buds, and nothing, then digging the tree up, coating it's roots and the hole with the powder, adding some minerals and kelp meal to the bottom of the hole, then carefully covering with the same dampened soil, and voila. So, I wouldn't say store bought fungi doesn't work unless you have thoroughly proven it, lest you make people not trust what you say. I have no doubt that the other 2 trees will awaken shortly, since their stocks are larger and maybe need a little more time to catch up...

[@maritimegardening4887]

All we said was that it's a waste of money in most cases because it tends to be in most soils most of the time. I think Keith was pretty clear on that point. Now - based on what you said above - the results that you saw could either be from the fungi - or the minerals, or the kelp meal - or some other reason...

[@JesusSoonComing]

@@maritimegardening4887 To say that it is a waste of money is simply not true. Already, it has paid for itself, because I have living/awake trees that can feed my family for life. (By the way, to make sure to give this the best chance of working, I used two different products to increase my odds - both having different species) Much research has been done, and it has been proven to work. I put fertilizer etc in the pot when I planted the trees, and mixed it in thoroughly from the start. If the roots couldn't take it up then, why now? Myco is the reason, no doubt, since it is essential to any root system. I proved it to myself. I said to myself, "self, I bet this stuff could help the roots, since there were barely any roots". Devised an experiment, put it into action, and to my surprise, the tree budded in 2 (TWO!!) days. I didn't expect to see the buds that fast. I just walked over to the plants as usual, hoping, and my face lit up, there were many little buds just popping out of no-where. Well, fertilizer won't do that. If there aren't enough roots, it just won't work. As a matter of fact, it will harm the little roots. So I was careful to put the kelp meal below the roots, then covered it with dirt. But the only thing that I put directly on the roots was the powder. It makes sense to me, and I'm taking this matter into my own hands, and proving it through my own experiments. I'm convinced that it works, so far... Go learn more about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/enOmnJ6fe7aiaJI

[@JesusSoonComing]

By the way, I didn't mention that I started using this on my garden plants a week ago, and already I see a large improvement in the plant health/growth. Actually I'm amazed at how much the improved. I love cucumbers, and my cucumber plants (from home depot), were looking very crappy, turning yellow and brittle, and most died. I watered one plant with a solution of Myco, and now it has jumped, and some seedlings that I planted also came to life. I would say that is enough proof, but I will still be performing experiments to confirm, but so far, I am amazed at just how well it works. But I shouldn't be, since it makes total sense to me how it works. It's a perfect 'design', and it didn't create itself millions of years ago, a designer created it, for the purpose that it performs, and he is ingenious... If we were as smart as we think we are, why does all the good stuff happen by itself, while we haven't been able to create even one tiny bug or leaf? If we are so smart, we should be able to do that. Right? Yet, it created itself? Cmon... There is a God, and he is magnificent, and his design just works... :-) You can believe that... Usually, when people claim that something happened "millions of years ago", it's because they just don't have a way to explain it other than that, because they refuse to believe there is a God. I'm so happy I don't have to worry about that. There is a God, he created Myco, and I thank him for it and will utilize it to my benefit...

[@Martiniiiiiiiiii]

If you had a root crop how would you harvest it with the combination of fungi to root?

[@maritimegardening4887]

I don't know what you mean

[@kensmapleleafretirement]

What do you think about the black garden cloth people use to keep weeds down?

[@rinogodbout4855]

Do not use!!!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Don Don't waste your money. In fact - I think Robert and I even covered this one in this poscast: maritimegardening.com/071-things-you-shouldnt-buy-with-robert-pavlis/

[@christafarion9]

Could you speak to the idea of tilling to remove stones from the soil? Is it better to leave the ground completely undisturbed from the get go, or is there an argument to be made for working the ground only once in the beginning to level and remove stones?

[@maritimegardening4887]

I think Robert Pavlis and an I touched on this in our recent interview. Here's the excerpt where we answer your question: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6rJgGB6br-Bgbs

[@christafarion9]

@@maritimegardening4887 thank you

[@simonwangeche3121]

Where can I get it in Kenya?

[@maritimegardening4887]

As we said in the video - you probably already have it. It exists in the soil.

[@pilkingtonfarms2716]

dont understand the temp readings he quotes. were not on the metric system in America. But other info was great.

[@maritimegardening4887]

To get from Celsius to Imperial multiply by 1.8 and add 32 to get f; or just google it. KZbin is viewed by the world - most countries use metric.

[@lanceowens5902]

What if you are a indoor gardener

[@maritimegardening4887]

Robert says it might help www.gardenmyths.com/mycorrhizae-fungi-inoculant-products/

[@cicibelarus1916]

Shit, so, my amazon fungi isn’t even active?

[@maritimegardening4887]

Might be - might not be.

[@lanceowens5902]

Well for a second anyway

[@stephenshanebeaty]

Is this guy not aware of how spores work with fungus, they can absolutely dry out and sit around for a long time and still be viable.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I'm not sure what part of the discussion you are referring to, but he's talking about fungi, not spores. Also, he's talking about maximum temperatures that fungi can withstand; so, while you may have fungi that can persist in a dormant state in the soil for a long time, at the normal range of soil temperatures for that fungi - sitting in a shelf or in the back of a truck at higher temperatures can kill it. Also, if I had to guess, I'd expect that Keith knows more about how spores work with fungus than me, you, or anyone else we know. He's made a living over his entire career as a soil scientist :)

[@kenshinhimura9387]

The short answer is no you don't need to buy it but you do need to add it. It doesn't just occur naturally. You can add woodchips and it will grow or you can buy some from the store and add it to your soil. If you try a garden with just some potting soil you won't have any fungi or myco's. It needs to come from somewhere. It doesn't magically appear in your garden. I also don't like this guy talking about how he doesn't water all summer. He's insane. Where I live if you don't water every singe day or at least every 2-3 days your plants will die. Even with a deep layer of woodchips. The Florida sun is just too intense. Also it doesn't matter if you use chemical fertilizers or organic. It does not kill the myco's unless you use too much on a regular basis.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I had amazing results in that bed last year - the soil is totally fine.