Anyone adding mycorrhizal?

[legoman_iac]

Hey all,

Been aware of these fun guys for a while, and chatting to a mate (who is into his bio-things, not yet bonsai) he said he adds this to his plants. I'm wondering if anyone is adding it to their bonsai/soil mixes? Also curious if species should have it added, or not? Believe trees like Oaks and Pines make their own, so not sure if it's OK to introduce a store bought mix?

https://www.nourishmeorganics.com.au/pr ... liser-200g

- Daniel

[DianeVH]

I believe mycorrhizal fungi is plant specific, at least it is for orchids.
Great of you get the right one for the plant you wish to encourage but could be devastating with the wrong choice.

[shibui]

In the early days I dutifully moved some old soil when repotting to maintain a good population but soon discovered that mycorrhiza turns up in the pots without any help from me so don't bother now.
Mycorrhiza appears to be species specific but some are generalists. From what I can gather the generalists are not as efficient as the specific strains for the species.
I have never heard of adding Myc to pots causing any problems. Whether it actually helps is debatable.

Pines, and most other tree species are quite capable of taking up nutrients without any assistance from mycorrhiza. The fungal associations appear to have developed where pines grow on very poor soils where nutrients are scarce. In those conditions myc does help convert, collect and transfer nutrients to the roots but where we feed our pots and provide abundant nutrients in easy to access form the myc is redundant.