The only problem is that you don't know its source and the species of may or may not even benefit you. Your land likley has mycorrizal fungi already present but it will take some time for it to find your trees' roots. For a similar effect you can dig up some compatible soil that includes fine roots of similar trees from a dense woodlot near you and replace the soil surounding your new plant. Other more knowledgable folks will post here surely.

A great author of horticulture, Dr. Alex Shigo, expounds on the association of mycorrhiaze with tree (and other plant) roots. It is a real association. There are tens of thousands of mycorrhizae. Many have mutual associations that benefit a specific species of plant. However, as bushhog936 says, because there are myriads of plants with myriads of associations there can be no way that anybody produces a universal mix of mycorrhizae species that will aid all plants, no matter where you are. Save your money. Hope that made sense.
hortster

Yup. Save your money.

Dan

I'll offer a dissenting view :-) Mycorrhizae can be very beneficial and an inocculant is worth considering. Cultivated soils are often deficient in these types of fungal colonies and repeated soil activity and the use of chemical fertilizers will also deplete them. And they have been documented to significantly improve the growth of an extremely wide assortment of plants.......it's estimated that 92% of plant families have or benefit from mycorrhizal relationships.

And I'd not be overly concerned about the "right" type. Mycorrhizal fungi are loosely grouped into two primary categories with endomycorrhiza associated with about 85% of the plant world. Ectomycorrhiza is more closely associated with woody plants. Regardless, most inocculants contain both types.

FWIW, many better quality container soils and an increasing number of commercially produced organic soil amendments and fertilizers are being offered pre-inocculated with mycorrhizae. And nursery growers for years have recognized the value of this association and use mycorrhizae inocculated soils.

foo foo yuppie carp .. IMHO ...

are there any other trees within 100 feet of your property ??? if so.. i would suggest that your garden is not lacking ...

if you were growing trees in a sterile potting media.. for the long haul .. i might see some use for it...

but unless you live in a barren wasteland.. its there.. and you dont need to waste your hard earned money on it ...

on the other hand.. if money is no issue.. go ahead.. most likely it cant hurt ...

i would prefer to spend the dough on an extra tree than such stuff ..

beware the man with the snake oil .. or woman.. or bigboxstore ...

buy tree.. dig hole.. insert.. roots down.. and give it PROPER water for 2 years.. and 99.9% of trees will just do fine, if zone appropriate ... look around.. they are everywhere ...

ken

It can be very helpful for area that is heavily razed over for new constructions. That's about it. If you can find a forest nearby, dig some dirt up and sprinkle around the planting hole . That's free! If you're surrounded by large trees, the chances are that you already have them. It really depends what kind of shape your soil is in.

Lou beat me to it.

Dan

I always toss in a shovel full or two of "starter" from my own home grown batch of myc - compost, produced from leaves and grass clippings (no foodstuffs, etc). Basic reason is that it provides a slow-release food source for the plant, but for sure the myc is in there. Introduced mycorrhiae won't do any good without some organic material to work with. That is another fallacy about mixing myc with empty contractor "basement soil" - there just isn't anything for the myc to work with.
hortster

Also heavy nitrogen fertilzers and excess phosphorous can interfere with root fungal relationships. Since you're interested in the natural benefits of mycorrizae you would be good to read up on the soil food web/chain.

I was at a seminar and they said mycorrhizae could not be reproduce. They recommended if you wanted it just go over to a older tree and grab a shovel full of soil and put in your new planting

Thanks for all the replies.I kind of thought it may have been something that was more than likely present in good soils but wasn,t sure. I know of an area where I can get some soil from around some oak beech woods that surely have the mycorrhizae there,I can take a couple scoops and add to each planting hole. My soil is probably good already it has tons of worms but it won,t hurt to try the forest soil.

foo foo yuppie carp .. IMHO ...

Why you may consider it "yuppie" I have no idea - the recognition of mycorrhizal relationships and the understanding of how they benefit plants has been around for years. Nothing yuppie about it unless one considers being open to relatively recent scientific discussion a yuppie pastime. Might it help to expand your knowledge base a bit more? I didn't think you were so closed-minded, Ken :-) As a matter of fact, the presence of a strong mycorrhizal relationship supports your oft repeated statements that shrubs and trees require "no" fertilizing - generally woody plants that DO benefit from this relationship require minimal fertilization as they are able to access nutrients over a far greater territory than those plants without a similar relationship.

And if you had even seen a comparison of a tree root system grown with the benefit of a strong mycorrhizal relationhsip compared to one without, you wouldn't consider it foo-foo -- it is very real, extremely obvious and scientifically documented.

Below is a photo of two maple seedlings of the same age. The one on the left was grown without benefit of mycorrhizae, the one on the right with. The difference in root development is startling.......and this is without the extension of the fungal hyphae in the soil that would increase the functional root spread 2-3 times or more.
{{gwi:349571}}

IIRC Journ Arbor did something with the retail mychorrizae several years ago and found it didn't help. Sure the pix above show the benefit, but not the ones off the shelf. Also IIRC - can't find it at the moment - there was a survey done of certified arbs around here and they didn't use the retail consumer product as they didn't find that it worked.

Dan

We are planning a fruit orchard in N. TX. We are using a virgin land that currently has only native grass and wild flowers. We do have a forest on our land its about 150 + years old. The forest ground is very rich with heavy compost. Most trees in this forest are oaks, ceder, nut, etc no fruits. In order to introduce mycorrhizal fungi to each new tree; would you suggest its a good idea to get some of the forest compost (from the forest ground) and add it to the expanded shale , store buy compost and ceder mulch. I have heard using a mixture of mycorrhizal and Garrett juice is the best thing for new trees.
If this is not a good idea thanks for explaining why? And what brand name of 'fruit tree mycorrhizal powder' would you suggest?

Find an orchard with the same/similar plants, ask the owner for a few bucketfuls of soil from under the dripline to be collected the day you are planting. Throw a handful in the hole. Plant.

And what brand name of 'fruit tree mycorrhizal powder' would you suggest?

None.

Dan

I'm with gardengal on this one. I switched over my planting matrix to one with mycorrhizal additives as soon as it became commercially available. It's beneficial to me, because initially my potted stock starts off in soil-less substrate and it's bound for final planting 'god knows where'. It is ineffective on some plants and not a universal cure-all, but I've noticed it does give others a kick in the pants jumpstart.

Let's put it this way, it doesn't cost me anymore to use it in my media. If I had to buy it to mix, (and I used to) it was inexpensive. It's non-polluting. As a grower, I hedge my bets if it causes no harm, and might be beneficial.

I see plenty of evidence that it is not needed on my property, but I use no chemicals on my property and my property and planting zone are not typical of the typical homeowner. If you have a property where the soil has been sprayed, is subject to run-off, is in a relatively new construction area, or have had less than spectacular results with your plantings, you may get some benefit from it.

I'm wondering what Garret juice is! I'll google it.