Here at Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc. we believe the fastest, most effective way to restore depleted mycorrhizal populations in croplands or pastures is to apply a commercial mycorrhizal inoculant to the roots or seeds. Our technology to produce commercial inoculants has advanced tremendously in recent years. The result is a concentrated new MycoApply® liquid seed and furrow product.

Benefits are maximized when the mycorrhizal fungus colonizes the roots as early in the plant’s life as possible. Ideally this is immediately after the seed has germinated and begun to sprout. The resulting crop ends up with a greatly increased effective root system and improved nutrient and water uptake.

MycoApply® Liquid Endo 16 fl oz. (Seed & Furrow) is a version of the original MycoApply® Liquid Endo that is eight times more concentrated. One pint of this product treats the same amount of crop seeds or acreage as one gallon of the original MycoApply® Liquid Endo. We have received a lot of feedback from agricultural users that the seed treatment application rates for the “1-gallon” product left some crop seeds too moist for use in planting equipment; especially if other liquid adjuvants were applied at the same time.

This product reduces the application rate volume to 1/8^th of the original MycoApply® Liquid Endo. MycoApply® Liquid Endo 16 fl oz. (Seed & Furrow) is particularly suited for use in mechanical seed-treatment equipment designed for liquid applications. We highly recommend this new product as a crop seed treatment or for in-furrow applications whenever excess moisture may be a problem.

Looking forward to working with you in 2012 with this exciting concentrated liquid product.

Dr. Mike

Toll free: 1-866-476-7800

Historically, the essential combination of agricultural innovation and hard work has been able to consistently feed a growing, more prosperous human population.  However serious challenges loom ahead, threatening further expansion.  

Agriculture accounts for an estimated 70% of the world’s consumption of fresh water and produces 35% of its greenhouse gas emissions.  Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution derived from fertilizers has compromised surface and ground water quality and created massive dead zones in oceans and lakes. While agricultural fertilizers have played an essential role in feeding the world, much of the applied fertilizers runs off, failing to nourish our crops.  Soil erosion, land clearing, farming on marginal lands, water pollution and chemical overload have positioned agriculture production among the world’s primary environmental threats.  

Clearly, we can do better.

It’s time to look to successful natural relationships for solutions to global environmental problems.  For example, mycorrhizal fungi can be used to greatly increase the effective rooting capacity of plants which translates into more efficient use of fertilizers, water and ultimately, less money out of people’s pockets.  In a world where the price of both fertilizers and water are increasing while supplies diminish, it just makes plain sense to develop an extensive and efficient root system.  When environmental stewardship and practical economics become compatible, it is a win-win. At Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc, we help your plants grow better…naturally.

Dr. Mike

“Mycorrhizal spores and spores in roots (arrrows)”    

Dr. Mike Amaranthus
President Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc.
7/15/11 

I used to visit natural areas and wonder how these areas stayed so productive and healthy.  Take a redwood stand for example: the trees can be 300 feet tall, 1,000 years old and 10 feet in diameter and they have never been artificially fertilized or irrigated.  How do they do it?  A living soil provides us with the template.  Soils in natural areas are teeming with life and the most prolific group of organisms that associate with plants are the Mycorrhizal fungi. The effect of the mycorrhizal relationship on the root system is dramatic.  Most of the absorbing area of the root system are mycorrhizal threads or hyphae.  Hyphae are much thinner than roots or root hairs and are able to grow in the tiniest pores in the soil.  As a result, the efficiency of the plant’s nutrient and water uptake is increased several hundred to several thousand times.  

You would be surprised to know that, in many cases, soil contains an abundance of nutrients but delivery to the plants itself is limited.  Mycorrhizae are particularly important in mobilizing nutrients in the soil and transporting them back to the plant. In exchange, the mycorrhizal fungus gets sugars produced from the leaves, the plant’s solar- powered energy factories.  The plant is providing the energy for the fungus to do its job and to propagate its spores for the next generation of mycorrhizae.

Can’t I just fertilize?

Many fertilizer regimens push plant top growth at the expense of root development, making plants vulnerable to stressful environments. Frequent, high levels of fertilizer produce an unbalanced and often unsustainable plant shoot-to-root ratio. Mycorrhizae, on the other hand, feed plants and stimulate root growth. Mycorrhizae perform numerous functions related to plant establishment that fertilizers do not. Fertilizers cannot maintain healthy roots, improve soil structure, water uptake or promote other beneficial microbes. In fact, fertilizers often negatively affect these factors.  Excess fertilizers can lead to other side effects, such as deterioration of water quality, soil structure and excess soil salinity. The mycorrhizal relationship improves feeder-root production, and a mycorrhizal plant can better utilize added fertilizer.

Fresh approaches for fresh water

The human need for fresh water is growing faster than nature can provide.  It’s quickly becoming one of the key resource issues of the 21st century. How do natural areas provide for such luxuriant plant growth without irrigation? One important way is that mycorrhizal threads attached to the roots of colonized plants scour the soil resource absorbing water during periods of adequate soil moisture, retaining water during periods of drought.  Natural areas have achieved a level of drought tolerance that far exceeds agricultural or urban areas in part because an enormous web of mycorrhizal threads act as a sponge protecting plant communities from extreme moisture deficits.

The mycorrhizal threads are much thinner than roots and can penetrate into the small soil pores and access pools of water that are unavailable to thicker roots.  An extensive body of research has documented the importance of the mycorrhizal relationship for efficient water use and drought protection for a wide array plants.  The growing cost and declining quality of water are formidable issues facing agricultural and urban areas today.  Using mycorrhizal fungi to improve water use efficiency and decrease water input costs is a tool available to everyone.

How do I use mycorrhizal fungi?

Mycorrhizal fungal inoculants are sold as spores, the “seeds” of fungi. This spore material includes spores both outside and inside of roots, as seen in the picture above.   An important factor is to get the mycorrhizal spores near the root systems of target plants. Inoculum can be attached to seed, incorporated at the time of transplanting, mixed with soil materials, watered-in or injected into the porous soil profile. Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc. MycoApply® products come in concentrated granular, powder and liquid forms. The form and application of the mycorrhizal inoculum depends upon the needs of the applicator. Root activity stimulates the Mycorrhizal spores to germinate, find a nearby root, and form the mycorrhizal relationship. Mycorrhizal Inoculums containing diverse specially selected mixtures of species of mycorrhizal fungi often give the best response. This improves performance across a variety of plant, soil, and climatic conditions. Inoculation is easy, inexpensive, and requires no special equipment.

Learning about the role of mycorrhizae and the conditions that promote or deter their presence in the soil is a first step toward using Nature’s planting tool. This is particularly important when restoring soil that was stripped of millions of years worth of nutrient and microorganism accumulation during construction or cultivation. If you feed the soil with mycorrhizal inoculum and protect these soil organisms from major disturbances and toxins, they will, in turn, feed and protect your plants better than any method we have ever developed—and with so little effort on your part!  It’s nature’s planting tool.

Growers of all types are becoming increasingly aware of the “connection beneath their feet” including a group of beneficial soil organisms that improve plant performance- the Mycorrhizal fungi. The world of science first reported the mystery of mycorrhizal fungi in 1885, but these fungi have been in a joint venture with plants since they schemed their way from the ocean to the mainland. Mycorrhizal literally means fungus (myco) and root (rhiza) and refers to the combination of fungus and root that is pre-eminent with plants in their natural habitats. Fossils of roots over 460 million years old contain mycorrhizae (plural for mycorrhiza) much as they look today. Mycorrhizae are among the most important symbiotic relationships on the planet and around 90% of all plants are from genera that dominately form mycorrhizae in their native habitats. In real terms, mycorrhizae are as common to the roots of plants as chloroplasts, the energy centers on the leaves of plants.

So what is the big deal about this special group of fungi? The fungus helps the plant extract nutrients and water from the soil, and the plant repays the kindness providing sugars produced by photosynthesis. The team of fungus and plant is such a winner that nature has several versions, with several kinds of fungi and almost every kind of plant. In the most common kind of mycorrhiza, the fungus belongs to a group of inconspicuous soil dwellers and forms a structure called an arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM). The next most common kind combines a mushroom puffball, truffle or related type of fungal fruiting body, and forms a fungal sheath that is evident on the exterior of the absorbing roots. This combination is called an ectomycorrhiza (EM) and common to oaks and conifers. Other kinds of mycorrhiza resemble these to a greater or lesser degree, and usually are confined to a family or related group of higher plants. Special types of mycorrhiza are found in the heather and orchid families, for example.

What does the mycorrhizal symbiosis do for the plant? There are thousands of published research studies on the benefits of mycorrhizae and one thing we are sure of is that mycorrhizal plants are far better than non-mycorrhizal plants at mining nutrients and water from the soil. Better nutrient and water absorption leads to a significant increase in growth rate. Published studies of mycorrhizal plants indicate that plants grew from 20% to several times the size of the non-mycorrhizal controls and positively influenced plant yields and quality. This “growth response” is only the most obvious benefit. Other benefits, appear unrelated to nutrition, such as improving soil structure.

I WELCOME YOU TO OUR WEBSITE! Learning about the role of mycorrhizae and the conditions that promote or deter their presence in the soil is a first step toward more productive plants and healthier landscapes. The next step is to add the fungi to the root zone when planting or transplanting. This is particularly important when restoring soil that was stripped of millions of years worth of nutrient and microorganism accumulation during construction, tillage, fallow or other major disturbances. If you feed the soil with mycorrhizal inoculum and protect these soil organisms from major disturbances and toxins, they will, in turn, feed your plants better than any method we have ever developed—and with so little effort on your part! The turf, flowers, grains, vegetables, fruit and berries that emerge from successful growing operation are part a fungal “love connection” that exists just beneath your feet.

Dr. Mike Amaranthus

With the increase in world population and the global demand for food, as well as an accelerated interest in feedstocks and biofuel production, a change toward more sustainable biological farming methods are being adopted by farmers. Worldwide fertilizer costs over the past four years have increased dramatically and farmers may be finding themselves relying less on synthetic chemicals to grow crops. Mycorrhizal inoculation as a great solution to more efficiently use fertilizers in their soils. Farmers are finding that they can reduce their fertilizer and water costs up to 30% and increase their yields by inoculating with MycoApply®  Mycorrhizal inoculum.

For example, recent harvest results of a MycoApply® rice trial conducted by Lance Benson agronomist in side by side 75 acre blocks in the Sacramento Valley, showed that the MycoApply® treated field yielded 8% more grain than the control field- an extra $173 / acre and a ten-fold return over the cost of the Mycorrhizal inoculum. In a 2010 study in California, Barley Brew seed inoculated with MycoApply® Micronized Endo had a 29% increased yield compared to control areas.  MycoApply® inoculated plots averaged 7,778 pounds compared to 6,030 pounds in control areas.  The MycoApply® inoculated stand was at least 6 inches taller than control and brought in an extra $145 per acre.  In Wisconsin at Gagas Farms, Inc., soybeans  were inoculated with MycoApply® Liquid Endo. Yield was significantly increased in three replicated plots by over 9%.

See video link for how mycorrhizal inoculation increases farm yields and decreases costs?

Everyone here at Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc is committed to making a difference. That is why we offer:

• Largest selection of diverse species commercially available
• Custom blends and formulations
• Multiple delivery forms including: powders, gels, soluble, liquid and granular
• Exclusive multi-species formulations
• Continual new product development

Our objective is to provide the highest quality Mycorrhizal inoculum, economically, and in the best form to meet the needs of our customers.

Thanks for your interest in the living soil!

Dr Mike

12/21/10

 “In times of change learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to work in a world that no longer exists.”   Eric Hofer Author

 Here is what we are learning.  The fact is the rate of increase in food production has slowed drastically in recent decades.   A big concern is what we are learning about the true cost of growing food.  A growing body of published evidence by the world’s leading research institutions indicates many agriculture practices are degrading soils, spreading toxic chemicals, contributing to global warming, rendering water unfit to drink, reducing biodiversity, and creating dead zones where chemical runoff reaches lakes and oceans. 

 The truth is our food production system is subsidized by non-renewable resources, by dangerous chemicals, and by depleting the production capacity of million-year-old topsoils. 

 It is tempting to point fingers and name names.  But Agriculture’s role in our global ecological crises is not a subversive plot caused by government officials, fertilizer or fuel salespeople, farmers or grocery shoppers.  Rather it is a conscious choice regarding how we grow our food.

Farmers are working harder and learning more than ever about ways to feed a growing global population in a sustainable way.  What we need is to get back to our roots:  Literally.  Deep long-lived perennial roots and associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have played key roles in the sustainablility of our natural areas for millions of years.  AMF form a beneficial relationship with approximately 80% of the world’s plant species in their natural habitat. Perennial roots and their associated AMF efficiently absorb water and nutrients deep within soil, prevent drought stress and the off site leaching of pollutants.  Perennial roots and AMF protect soils from erosion and put carbon in the ground where it promotes plant growth instead of the air where it promotes global warming. 

Large areas of our nations croplands have lost their mycorrhizal populations.  Tilling, fallow, erosion, and the use of certain chemical fertilizers have diminished populations of Mycorrhizal fungi.  AMF have been fundamental for plant growth for 460 million years in our natural ecosystems and have promoted the productivity and stability of our natural areas without irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and genetically modified seeds.  How do they do it.?   Miles of tiny fungal filaments can be present in a thimbleful of healthy soil.  These tiny filaments access, absorb and transport nutrients from the bulk soil to their plant hosts.

Organizations, like The Land Institute, in Salinas Kansas have worked for over 30 years on the problem of agriculture from the ground up. Their purpose is to develop an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the perennial prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops. Their specific research is an innovation for agriculture, using “nature as the measure” to develop mixed perennial grain crops as food for humans. Over 75 percent of human calories worldwide come from grains such as wheat and corn, but the production of these grains erodes soil and pollutes our waters. Perennial grain crops with deep and abundant root systems and AMF would improve soils  and waters instead of degrade them.

This evokes lots of “what if” questions about the future of agriculture for the learners among us:

What if Agriculture emulated nature instead of subdued nature?

What if Agriculture improved soil productivity instead of degraded it?

What if the roots and mycorrhizae of agricultural plants anchored and enriched soils?

What if the roots and mycorrhizae of agricultural plants help protect crops from drought?

What if the roots and mycorrhizae of agricultural plants added organic matter to soils instead of depleted it?

What if Agricultural crops had the efficiency and resilience of native ecosystems?

What if Agricultural crops produced nutritious food without subsidies of fossil fuels and without degrading water quality?

What if ….    We changed how we grow our food?

Dr. Mike

President Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc.

*Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc with over 32-years of experience with the use of Mycorrhizal fungi, has helped develop a new concept in the growing of plants, participated in a comprehensive research agenda, ran experiments to see how best to use AMF, lectured to scientists and growers all over the world.  Mycorrhizal Applications has raised millions of pounds of mycorhizal fungi and is dedicated to customers and their needs to produce plants using  both economically and ecologically sound methods.

B.   iPod    

C.  Cell Phones  

D. Computer   

E.  Mycorrhizal Fungi      

If you picked E. then you got it right.  In today’s modern world we may find it difficult to live without our cell phones I-pods, computers, and automobiles.  While these material goods often seem indispensable; it is clean air, clean water, and nutritious food that are the unconditional requirements for human survival. 

 There is a connection that makes clean air, water and healthy food possible, all three are dependent upon the activities of mycorrhizal fungi.

 We invite you to learn more about this amazing group of fungi and how they shape your world at our website

 www.mycorrhizae.com

 Dr. Mike

Another important consideration is to learn which type of mycorrhizal fungi occurs with your plant species. A list of plants with their mycorrhizal associates can be found at this website or, better yet, contact a mycorrhizal specialist to make sure that you select the proper type of inoculum (866-476-7800).

The next decision is what type of inoculum to buy and how best to apply it. Spore-based inoculums have the most options. The least expensive inoculation method is to apply liquid or powdered inoculum to seeds. Incorporating mycorrhizal inoculums into soil or growing media also works well. Mycorrhizal inoculums come in three formulations (powder, liquid, or granular) and the choice will depend on the needs of the grower and the application equipment available.

Here is one important consideration regarding cost-benefit ratios. When evaluating the use of mycorrhizal inoculums, it’s tempting to consider only the benefits of increased plant growth or yields. Instead, try to account for all the cumulative mycorrhizal benefits including reduced costs for water or fertilizer, better germination or survival, increased soil carbon levels, or improved soil structure — if each incremental benefit contributes 5% to 10%, the combined benefits can total 20 to 40%.