Mycorrhizal fungi have been found naturally all over the world for millions of years. They help your plants uptake nutrients and water, and help your plants respond better to stressful environments and situations.
Not everyone believes that adding mycorrhizae to their grow will produce in visible benefits. However, others swear by it.
I’ve always been a fan of adding it, or using fertilizers which have the fungi mixed in already so I don’t have to worry about mixing certain concentrations based on my watering amounts.
Do you add mycorrhizae to your grow? Have you seen any benefits? What products do you use related to this?
I live with the rep for Great White and top fed some of the powdered stuff to my house plants and noticed a big difference in a few weeks. I can imagine dusting roots when transplanting would work even better. The way I describe it is the fungi grows way faster than roots can and it will intelligently seek out nutrient pockets and distribute them evenly throughout the network for optimal absorption. After hundreds of millions of years of co-evolution the two organisms “know” exactly how to help each other thrive. If you watch time lapses of slime mold on youtube it will give you an idea of how “intelligent” fungi can be.
We use “pure culture” microbes in RKAG formulas. Pure culture meaning we dial in and identify exactly what colony family wrap in organic acid and do it again. Over 1 billion cfu in rkag microbial solutions.
Introducing microbes, Endo , ecto myco etc . Into soils is very important and I have always had success doing it. I feel it helps create the digestion to keep roots pushing . But all bugs needs food. Carbohydrates with microbes is super important. They only work effectively with the right food source .
You can over do microbes also . My opinion. It won’t hurt anything just waste money
@ralpht, have you ever done side by side tests to see differences when using microbes and not?
I agree! There is a benefit to adding different, yet specific types of microbes. There’s a reason that these tiny microorganisms are found in nature: because the plants benefit from them. You can definitely overdo microbe addition as well, that is true. Creating a well balanced mix is crucial to assure nothing is going to waste.
Great topic, @Jess! I have used many different strains of mycorrhizae in the past and have noticed some considerable results. I feed a mycorrhizae every few days while the plants are in vegetative growth and taper it off during the first week of flower. My rhizosomal growth is considerably more vigorous in the plants that receive the inoculation versus the plants that do not. I also have been known to add a powdered mycorrhizae during transplanting to help minimize transplant shock and re-establish healthy root growth.
How are other growers using mycorrhizae? What results are you seeing?
Does anyone have any thoughts on using soil that comes inoculated with mycorrhizae? We cut our use of powdered myco and have been using Sunshine #4 Advanced, which comes pre-inoculated. We haven’t noticed much of a difference but it would be interesting to hear what others experience has been.
I have also had good results with adding mycorrizae myself, just like @Growernick. My usage strategy is nearly identical as well!
I personally don’t have any experience with powders, I’ve always opted for liquids simply because that works the easiest with my job.
Interesting that you ask that, @redbarngrowers, I was hoping someone would bring that up. I have used a couple different substrates that come inoculated such as Promix HP. I haven’t noticed any big differences either in that regard.
I am also curious as to whether others have had a similar experience?
To anyone that isn’t, I recommend that you do! It’s usually a great benefit.
ProMix HP is pretty popular, and it’s an interesting question @redbarngrowers raises as to the difference in effect of applied vs. already-inocluated mixes.
We’re studying it more, but preliminary results suggest that my product helps mycelium development in beneficial fungi. It’s something I wanted to look into precisely because of their impact on plant development. If someone wants to give it a go I’d happily send over a sample.
Vulx is a volcanic mineral soil amendment made from isolated volcanic mineral deposits and phyllosilicates which we refine through a proprietary process.
The crystalline structure, high porosity, (-) charge, and water absorption qualities of these ingredients enhance the availability and uptake efficiency of water and nutrients as well as reduce the loss of nutrients and water to leaching. This means that cultivators using soil (or similar substrates) can use less nutrients and water but also get bigger, higher yielding plants due to the uptake/availability increase.
It comes in the form of a very fine powder, and to use it you simply mix it into the soil at 5% weight ratio for dense soils and 10-15% for extremely light substrates. Vulx is not water-soluble and it does not degrade over time, so unlike many amendments you do not have to reapply throughout the cycle. It is not recommended for use in hydro/aero due to the fact that application is impractical.
For mycorrhizae to produce results there are a few key points:
Endo spores colonize cannabis, ecto spores do not. Any product showing ecto spores on the label is showing you a component which will not create the necessary symbiotic relationship.
Spores must be viable. Spores which have no guarantee of viability may be damaged or aged to a point they will not be effective.
Buy spores, not propagules. Propagules might colonize, but more often than not they don’t.
This is a high-value plant, so apply spores near active roots early in the process (going from propagation into veg is a good time for this), and use a product with a high viable spore count.
Mycorrhizae is a technology which is very effective in creating a larger root system, therefore allowing greater uptake of water and nutrients.
I’ve always used Bio Rhizotonic or regular Rhizotonic from Canna and it achieves the results I look for. Adding it to water for cloning and transplanting/early veg is part of my routine!
What about you? Do you use mycorrhizae products in your grow? If so, what do you use?
