Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

@ DaveW - May be too soon to tell after just one season. They've all grown. Right now, the Opuntias are still quite shriveled - will be watching to see how they take up water as they come out of dormancy, maybe the mycorrhizae will help them recover quicker. Once they perk up I'll take some pictures, you can judge for yourselves how they've done. Maybe I should unpot them to check the root growth, too.

@ peterb - Mycorrhizae are supposed to persist for the life of the plant. Maybe plants that are never colonized by mycorrhizae have a shortened life span.
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peterb
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by peterb »

Is it possible that disturbing the plants, digging them up and transplanting them would curtail the life of the Mycorrhizae?

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DaveW
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by DaveW »

Found these Peter. See how hardy are mycorrhizae in first link:-

http://mycorrhizae.com/faqs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://jhbiotech.com/docs/Mycorrhizae-Article.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

Since the mycorrhizae enter and become part of the plant's roots, transplanting shouldn't harm them.
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GrowLLLTigeRRR
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by GrowLLLTigeRRR »

an very interested in results and conclusion of this experiment.
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WayneByerly
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by WayneByerly »

greenknight wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2013 10:01 am The expiration date on this stuff was only a couple years after I bought it, but maybe they're being conservative.
Hi Spence ... I JUST found this mycorrhizae post in Nov 2019

They're in the business of selling this stuff to you, so they're going to give you a conservative expiration date in order to get you to buy more when it "expires". Natch!
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

Final followup on this - the Mammillaria elongata that didn't get inoculant died a few years ago, I discovered in the Spring that it had turned black. The two that were inoculated are thriving. Could be just a coincidence...

I re-potted the little Opuntiads in July, here's a photo of them out of their pots. They're still shriveled from Winter dormancy - Spring clear through June was so cold and damp I was afraid to give my cacti a full watering, they'd only had a dribble to keep them alive. Anyway, the two on the right are the ones that were inoculated:
20220723_070639crpd.jpg
20220723_070639crpd.jpg (125.73 KiB) Viewed 917 times
The inoculated ones are definitely stouter. Not only did they make stronger growth, they suffered less from Winter die-back (which these are prone to). I had first noticed this with the parent plant, after which I made it a practice to give them an occasional squirt of water over the Winter. This nearly eliminated die-back in the inoculated ones, but it was still a problem for the others.

While this isn't a solid scientific study, I'm convinced - I'm inoculating all my cacti now.

These guys are none the worse for their extended dormancy, here they are now in 3" pots - not the sharpest photo, but you can see they've plumped up and are making new growth:
20220901_opuntiads.jpg
20220901_opuntiads.jpg (99.48 KiB) Viewed 917 times
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DaveW
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by DaveW »

I did once read that some of the rock dissolving bacteria are passed on clinging to the seed (from the fruit pulp?) but whether that would apply to washed seed since it would not be washed in nature. Unfortunately the link promotes the myth that a gravel layer in the bottom of a pot helps drainage, which it does not. Evenly mixed potting soil from top to bottom in a pot drains best.

https://allthingscactus.com/can-a-cactu ... ng%20areas.

I suppose it depends whether the stuff sold includes the mycorrhiza that exist in habitat in dry soils instead of those used by "normal" plants in usually constantly moist soils? Most of these mycorrhiza concoctions are sold for cultivators of "normal" plants rather than for the dryer soils cacti & succulents inhabit. However those above have indicated which ones are needed for our plants.
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greenknight
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Re: Small mycorrhizal inoculant test

Post by greenknight »

I happened on to an item about scientists studying the rhizobacteria (root-associating bacteria) from Brazilian cacti for their potential to aid farm crops growing in drought conditions: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 1312001413

They've gotten some promising results, maybe some of these will become commercially available in a few years.

As for mycorrhizae, it's my understanding they persist in plant roots through drought perods. The strains in the product I used in this test did seem to improve the drought tolerance of the cacti, but I wouldn't be surprised if strains native to desert regions were more effective at this.
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