Erosion Control / Restoration Overview

Unlike vegetables in a garden or flowers in a nursery, plants on a restoration / erosion control site are not given continual care and attention. Often as a result of budget measures, these sites start with the bare minimum, and then are left to depend on nature to provide the long term care. While seemingly cost efficient at first glance, the reality is that without having the proper resources needed to survive on their own in nature, transplant survival rates and seed germination on many sites are marginal.

Now, more and more we see contractors paying upfront to add those resources, like mycorrhizae, that will help the plants with long term establishment. Despite higher upfront costs, the extra additives often allow the site to revegetate in one pass, making them more cost efficient in the end.

An attractive tool to diminish the dollar costs of these sites, is to use mycorrhizal fungi as a natural plant growth stimulant. Using mycorrhizal fungi to establish and grow plants is borrowing from nature’s template. Natural, undisturbed areas are teeming with a wide variety of these mycorrhizal fungi. Many of these natural ecosystems are the most stable and productive on earth, achieving great plant productivity and longevity without irrigation or fertilization. A healthy, robust, living soil conserves, transforms and utilizes soil nutrients and water and protects plants from environmental extremes. The key for the contractor is to recognize that soil is alive and deserving to be treated like the precious resource it is. By doing this they will ensure these plants and sites will have the tools they need to survive, with nature providing their long-term care and not humans.

Recent advancements in our understanding of mycorrhizal fungi and their requirements has led to the production of high-quality, economical mycorrhizal inoculums at affordable prices. The most important factor for re-integrating mycorrrhizae is to get the mycorrhizal propagules near the root systems of target plants. Inoculum can be incorporated into the planting hole at the time of transplanting, watered into porous soils, mixed into soil mixes or directly dipped on root systems using gels. It can be broadcast, hydro-mulched or applied at seeding. The form and application of the mycorrhizal inoculum depends upon the needs of the applicator. What is clear is that on disturbed and stressed sites, inoculation is highly effective.

If you are planning to add mycorrhizal fungi back to areas where they have been lost, make sure you use products that have a diverse array of species. Not all mycorrhizal fungi are created equal. Mycorrhizal fungi have different capacities and tolerances. For example, some are better at protecting plants from drought. Still other mycorrhizal fungi are better at producing enzymes that facilitate mineral uptake such as phosphorous, iron and others. Some mycorrhizal fungi can access organic forms of nitrogen. Mycorrhizal diversity ensures a range of benefits to the plant not found with only one species.

Mycorrhizal Benefits:

• Improved transplant survival and growth
• Improved germination
• More effective rooting
• Improved soil structure
• Increased nutrient uptake
• Decreased drought stress
• Tolerance of environmental extremes
• Reduces off-site pollution of surface and groundwater