Mycorrhiza Fungi...why you should get to know them...

elfo777

Well-Known Member
I just found this in my soil. It looks like mold spores, is this benefitial or not? I used myco to inoculate my roots 2 times, growing 100% organic using biobizz nutes and guanos. Im watering every 6 or 7 days so im sure it's not an humidity issue. Why are all my plants growing this mold? It looks its spreading quickly. I don't have any other plagues.
 

Attachments

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
I just found this in my soil. It looks like mold spores, is this benefitial or not? I used myco to inoculate my roots 2 times, growing 100% organic using biobizz nutes and guanos. Im watering every 6 or 7 days so im sure it's not an humidity issue. Why are all my plants growing this mold? It looks its spreading quickly. I don't have any other plagues.
Pics under normal light help!
 

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
Ar
I got a small chunk of earth from the soil, this is the most I could gather. It looks like a thin layer on top of the soil with really fluffy small white hairs. The "mold" looks really white as you can see in this pic.
Are you using bokashi, bc if so that's mycelium which is very good for your soil!
 

elfo777

Well-Known Member
Ar

Are you using bokashi, bc if so that's mycelium which is very good for your soil!
I bought a product called micro vita from Top Crop nutrient brand (european), I can't find what it has but it contained a lot of beneficial bacteria and fungi (at least the label says so). Maybe it is because of that. It has taken months for me to see this. I noticed a yellow leaf fell on the soil and it was completely covered in white like in my previous pic. I thought I was developing mold. It's raining a lot here so while im not overwatering the humidity can get high sometimes.
 

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
I bought a product called micro vita from Top Crop nutrient brand (european), I can't find what it has but it contained a lot of beneficial bacteria and fungi (at least the label says so). Maybe it is because of that. It has taken months for me to see this. I noticed a yellow leaf fell on the soil and it was completely covered in white like in my previous pic. I thought I was developing mold. It's raining a lot here so while im not overwatering the humidity can get high sometimes.
Then yes my guess would be thata mycelium growing and that's a good thing, sorry I can't really teach u more but u should Google it. If I had to put money on it that's what I'd say it is!
 

jblumpkin

Active Member
Any fungus found not directly growing on roots is highly likely to be a saprophytic, non-mycorrhyzal organism. Not that that's a bad thing, saprophytic fungi are the main decomposers of organic matter and are important in nutrient cycling although it's not mycorrhizal fungi.
 

jblumpkin

Active Member
Now if you're after mycorrhizal fungi what you're looking for is AMF (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi).AMF is a type of endomycorrhizal fungi (penetrates plant cells) that pairs with 80% of land plants including cannabis. There's a few strains of AMF you propably know already ie. Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae, ect. It can be found growing directly on plant roots - it doesn't grow without a host plant, so you won't find it in multiplying in compost, manures and teas (that's saprophytic fungi you see). Because of this dependence on a host plant, AMF is more expensive to produce as lab techniques can't multiply them effectively (the spores can be manipulated but they will not complete their life cycle without a host).

On the other hand Ectomycorrhizal fungi (what's loaded in a lot of "myco blends") doesn't pair with anything but certain tree species Ecto can be propagated without a host plant so it's cheaper to produce. That's why resellers add it -- to look like more props per container. Some shady stuff going on.
 

jblumpkin

Active Member
There's pure AMF inoculants for sale you can find online like BioAg VAM, Mykos, Mycorrhizal Applications, ect.

However research has shown mixed results on how effective these commercial inoculants are. The most infectious part of mycorrhizal fungi, the mycelium hyphae, doesn't survive long without a host plant. In inoculants they are surely 'dead' (spores while less infectious have a hard shell that protects them and helps their shelf life). For more info about prop count vs spore count read this https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/quantifying-mycorrhizae-spores-vs-propagules-why-mike-mason-jd-mba

For a few dollars you can make your own mycorrhizal fungi trap cultures like this https://moldresistantstrains.com/diy-how-to-make-mycorrhizal-fungi-inoculant/ maybe not worth it for small-scale applications but for bigger set-ups it will deff help save some money.
 

Bubblin

Well-Known Member
My advise just buy some bokashi or grokashi
I can usually get a nice layer going in coco or soil with just a simple cover crop and recharge or great white once every few weeks, grokashi is awesome sauce tho.

I had a nice layer going on the noTill coco mix my snake plants are in. But I'm replacing that cover crop seed mix with a different one, the old CC had too many vine like species, weeding indoor/house plants = meh lol.
 

Go go n chill

Well-Known Member
I can usually get a nice layer going in coco or soil with just a simple cover crop and recharge or great white once every few weeks, grokashi is awesome sauce tho.

I had a nice layer going on the noTill coco mix my snake plants are in. But I'm replacing that cover crop seed mix with a different one, the old CC had too many vine like species, weeding indoor/house plants = meh lol.
I use Mykos Extreme and I noticed bigger roots with it but never “the web” in my soil of my med garden
 
Top