10/18/09

My gamble on mycorrhizae

This scenario applies to all beneficial organisms I will add and have already added. The Floralicious Plus contains beneficial bacteria and has caused no problems yet, but it is nowhere near as concentrated as SubCulture M or SubCulture B. The SubCulture M & B may prove to be either a nightmare, a blessing or a nothing.

Nightmare scenario: the mycorrhizae fungi & the beneficial bacteria explode in numbers clogging my sprayers & possibly clogging my pumps. The Bio balls prove inadequate in containing them and they form a thick slime on the surface of the water in the reservoir. Removing them by cleaning the system proves to be extremely difficult as they are stubborn, microscopic & get into and on every little part of your apparatus. Alternate nightmare scenario: the mycorrhizae & beneficial bacteria don't survive or are too small in number & enemy pathogens collect on the root system harming & possibly killing my plants.

Blessing scenario: The mycorrhizae & beneficial bacteria establish themselves on my plants roots, protecting them from enemy pathogens, aid in nutrient uptake which lead to overall better plant health, less use of nutrients & bigger buds w/o over reproducing themselves & sliming my system. They contain themselves to the root system & the bio balls I've provided in the reservoirs.

Nothing scenario: The mycorrhizae & beneficial bacteria don't survive and no enemy pathogens take hold. Or the mycorrhizae & bacteria do survive, but are too insignificant in number to substantially effect the health of the plants. Or the beneficials establish themselves just fine, but due to various reasons, perhaps the type of nutrients I'm using or the systems I'm running (aeroponic/NFT & Hydroton in dutch buckets), they provide no observable benefit.

Why I chose to do what I did:

I decided to inoculate my plant's root system with a root drench of SubCulture M at quarter strength b/c of several reasons. One being I had added a carbohydrate supplement, FloraNectar: Pineapple Rush!, and felt insecure leaving it to chance that the bad bacteria & pathogens could use this as an ideal breeding ground with a plentiful food source. My thinking being that the mycorrhizae would at least protect the plants from harm by establishing themselves before the bad guys had a chance to establish themselves.

I chose to do it at quarter strength b/c that was recommended to me by more than one user of mycorrhizal fungi, but in particular a poster by the name of Rocky Mtn Squid, who has used mycorrhizae in his aeroponic system & was kind enough to give me the lowdown on his experience and what to expect. You can always add more, it's more difficult to reduce what's already been added.

In addition to all this I thought about my system - many people use highly oxygenated DWC systems which can "super-charge" beneficial organisms causing them to sometimes become more of a hinderance than a help. My thinking is I do not have aerated reservoirs, the oxygen the organisms have available to them comes from 2 primary places - for the beneficial bacteria it's primarily on the bio balls that float on the surface of the reservoir, for the mycorrhizal fungi, it's on the plant roots themselves & in the aerated sprays of water. I'm hoping this relatively limited amount of oxygen access will curb population size to a manageable levels.

Finally, if I have this dialed in right there are some pretty strong benefits to having these little guys around I refer you to this study which rather impressed me on the benefits of adding SubCulture to your grow: SubCulture Report
So, if ll goes well - this could be a big benefit to my system. If not, I'll clear it out with some FloraShield.