Mycorrhizae and Root Development

Some common products out there for root development and Mycorrhizae. There are a few key factors to determine the quality and effectiveness of your Mycorrhizae product. Watching for these slight signs will make all the difference in your root system over the life of your plant. Get some in-active, old or otherwise worthless Mycorrhizae and your grow will suffer. Kelp4less wouldn’t do that to you, no need for your grow to suffer. Follow these steps to ensure success.

Know the Difference

Bacteria. Bacteria are vital for recycling nutrients. Bacteria can be recognized by their shape and motion. Bacteria are mostly round or rod shape. Some filamentous bacteria are required for the growth of some plants while they are quite detrimental to the growth of other plants.

Fungi. A fungal hyphae can be distinguished by its strand-like appearance with straight cross walls. A hyphae should be uniform in diameter, and not less than 2 micrometers thick. The best hyphae in our soil are those that are wide in diameter and dark in color. (Generally, when speaking of soil health, dark is always good.) These wonderful networks of the soil food web help to hold and transfer nutrients directly to plants through symbiotic relationships. They also promote healthy soil aggregation.

Don’t Buy Water

1. Any Mycorrhizae or Trichoderma product containing water is a stabilize liquid. This is required so the container doesn’t go anaerobic or explode on a retail store’s shelf.
2. This stabilization process seizes all the micro-biology growth, which defeats the entire purpose of feeding Mycorrhizae.

Examples of watered down products:

Voodoo Juice – Advanced Nutrients

Did you see that bottom line on the back label of Voodoo Juice? 98% Water? I didn’t know water was so expensive? Can’t you get a gallon of this “water” at any local convenience store for less than $3? Where is this other price coming from? Ohh yeah – product labeling, fancy graphics, and the sales and marketing team they design to hide this obvious fact that they are selling you water. But not only water, a stabilized, therefor “dead”, mycorrhizae product which is 98% water and 2% actual product.

Moving on to powders

Many products on the market are powder or granular Mycorrhizae products. Understand most (maybe 98%) of all mycorrhizae products come from the same source. Nothing is special between one brand and another. There are a few things to watch for to get the right stuff.

1. Freshness – this is key. An old batch is not as potent as a new batch
2. This product only stores for 12 months. After this time, you loose most microbial value.
3. There are 4 main strains to watch for…Rhizopagon (ECTO), Glomus (ENDO), Trichoderma and Bacillus (bacteria). Some may mix and match but understand it’s all the same strains being used repeatedly. Maybe some have more or less bacillus sub-strains but you still ultimately have the Bacillus, Glomus or Trichoderma. There are many, many other strains of fungi and bacteria, but the plant and plant nutrients industry really only works with these 3 main strains.

Don’t Buy Blends

Products you have probably seen or used:

ZHO Root Inoculant – Bontanicare

ZHO Root Inoculant  contains 49% inert ingredients. Meaning 1/2 of what you are buying is useless, of no value, waste of money. Do not buy blended products.

Great White – Plant Success

Great White is a superb product. Works great, just is not cost effective. Not blended with anything that is not needed (which is good). Just the Bacteria and Fungi Strains. Want a cheaper solution? Our Myco + Trichoderma blend is a perfect substitute that will also save you some money.

This educational post is for that intent only. Education. Don’t be afraid to read the back of the label of all the products you use now and do some research.

Purchase our Mycorrhizae here: http://www.kelp4less.com/product-category/mycorrhizae/