Why use mycorrhizal fungi inoculant?
Mycorrhizal fungi are found naturally in soil, especially in those with active soil food webs. The fungi colonize and fill the soil around roots with sticky hyphae — thin threads up to 20 feet in length. Pathogens have a difficult time getting through the hyphae to attack roots, and if they do succeed, mycorrhizae produce specific-target antibiotics to kill them. The long hyphae also mine the soil and subsoil for phosphorus, trace minerals and water, plus they build soil aggregates with their sticky excretions. Robert Linderman, a research leader for mycorrhizae with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, writes that the fungus is the quarterback and calls all other soil microbes into play as needed. That’s because mycorrhizae form a symbiotic relationship with the plant and know its needs. Depleted, synthetically fertilized and newly tilled soils have little mycorrhizae. Inoculants are available commercially to add to the soil, as are inoculated, bagged soils, which are good for seed sta
