Hi jackman1944,

I'd be real interested in reading this article! I'm fascinated by mycorrhizal fungi. Have you read Paul Stamets book "Mycelium Running"? It has a great section that's about gardening. He shows how to increase crop production by growing with mushrooms. He also talks about specific mycorrhizal fungi (in spore form) that you can add directly to seeds to help them grow. You can purchase it at

Fungi Perfecti http://www.fungiperfecti.com/mycogrow/index.html

listed as "plant success tabs". I'm glad you posted this because it reminded me that I wanted to order some for my very new garden space. Please post again if you find anything more about the onion/tomato method.

Bellatrix

Whoops, the powdered myccorrhizal for vegetables and seeds in actually called "microgrow" and is listed further down the page than "plant success tabs" at Fungi Perfecti. Very reasonably priced, too.

I'm glad somebody posted something about mycorrhizal fungi, I wish more people were aware of the many benefits of this fungus (most importantly increasing phosphorus uptake in low phosphorus soil). Most of our land plants (flowers, crops, trees) have some form of mycorrhizal association. An easy way of inoculating plants with mycorrhizal fungi is to take a known mycorrhizal plant from its environment with native soil attached and plant it in your garden next to other plants you want to inoculate. The extraradical hyphae of the fungus extend from the mycorrhizal plant to other plants in the vicinity and inoculates them. The species of fungi are often compatible with many different types of plants. However, trees and vegetables have associations with mycorrhizae that are totally different (trees and shrubs with ectomycorrhizae - that produce mushrooms and vegetables with endomycorrhizae - no mushrooms).

The inoculum won't be in your ordinary potting soil. I am planning to innoculate the vegetables in my garden (leeks in particular) and will probably order Myke's inoculum to ensure inoculation (http://www.usemyke.com). But as Bellatrix mentioned there are other sources as well.

Well I went on a rant there! I just can't contain myself when talking about mycorrhizal fungi.

Thanks for listening!

Cathy

Wanted to see if anyone has had more experience with this. I have put endo/ecto mycorhizae under all the veggies I started this spring. Everything seems to growing like crazy, but I have large amounts of compost in the beds and have put about a cup of wormcastings under every plant as well (maybe I'm a little obsessed)
Thanks, Tim

ProMix has added Mic. fungi in a line of their potting mix. just save yourself a lot of trouble by paying $1.45 extra per 3.8cu.ft. bale to have it included. The details and testimonials are on their website: www.premierhort.com

http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/depts/NFfield_trials/0903/daviddouds.shtml

This is a way to grow your own.

Here is another link showing how to make your your own mycorrhizal inoculum.

Here is a link that might be useful: making your own mycorrhizal inoculum

Hello Friends, How are you? I am new in this Forum. I am PhD student in China. I am planning to work on Pisolithus tinctorious that is Ectomycorrhiza. I am planning to inoculate Pisolithus tinctorious with Fagaceae plants.My teacher also asked me to design my experiments to use the inoculum of Pisolithus tinctorious and AMF fungi to inoculate ECM plants and AMF plant together. that is to say that one set with AMF plant, other set with ECM plants and the last one set to be inoculated with AMF and ECM fungi together. I need help in this matter, as I am new in this field. What should be the pot size? and how many seedling can be used in pots? other part is how many set of pot or number of pots represent one block? as I will carry this experiment in Pots. Thanks in Advance!!
Regards,