GETTING TO KNOW YOUR MICROBES
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In exchange for the root
exudates the plant
provides, mycorrhizal
fungi spread their
hyphae throughout the
soil and bring nutrients
and minerals back to
the host plant.
A Paenibacillus colony.
Mycorrhizal fungi can be classified
into three groups: ectomycorrhizae, ericoid mycorrhizae and endomycorrhizae
(also known as arbuscular mycorrhizae). Ectomycorrhizal fungi colonize
the roots of pine, fir, oak, eucalyptus,
hazelnut and birch trees. Ericoid
mycorrhizal fungi associate with blueberry, cranberry, rhododendron, azalea
and Pieris plants. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associate with most crop
plants and are what most gardeners
need to use. This is important for you
to know because you don’t want to buy
the wrong type of mycorrhizal fungi for
the wrong plant. There are also mycorrhizae products that contain a lot of
strains you don’t need in your garden.
For example, if you are growing crop
plants, you don’t need ectomycorrhizal
fungi from the genera Rhizopogon or
Scleroderma.
Glomus is the largest genus of AM
fungi. In 1995, the American
Society for Microbiology published a study that investigated
how lettuce plants react in stressful conditions when the roots
are colonized by seven different
Glomus species. The study revealed
which Glomus species were the most
beneficial in GfW'6R6