Have you ever heard of mycorrhizae? These are special types of fungi that enter into symbiosis with plants.
Mycorrhizae are found in the rhizosphere, which is the part of the soil adjacent to the roots, and their presence can provide a number of benefits, helping the root system of plants to grow and absorb nutrients. If you are concerned about soil maintenance, I also recommend reading the article on Effective Microorganisms (EM).
We’ve looked at mycorrhiza in this article, now we’re going to recommend a few products you can use for mycorrhizal plants in your garden. Before doing so, I will summarize for you the reasons why you should use this extraordinary “natural assistant” in cultivation.
- Further development of the root system.
- More drought resistance.
- Increased ability to assimilate nutrients from the soil.
- Increased resistance to fungal diseases and some pests.
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Buy mycorrhizae: recommended products
The products that we present to you below are part of the Geomicor range and are manufactured by Geosism & Nature, the company that gave us advice on testing mycorrhizae and wrote this series of articles on their use in horticulture, so a good warranty.
They are products of natural origin, all authorized in organic farming and free of chemicals that can add toxicity to the soil or the vegetables grown. Geomicor products combine fungal microorganisms with bacteria from the rhizosphere, each product is studied for a specific purpose, selecting the most suitable mycorrhizal strains.
Geomicor Radicant
The purpose of this product is promote the root system , with the effect of strengthening the plant, making it more resistant to stress (drought, transplanting, heat, etc.). In addition, Geomicor Radicant fixes nitrogen in the soil, which is known to be essential for horticultural plant growth.
It is a product based on mycorrhizal fungi, it contains actinomycetes of the genus Frankia which produce actinorhizae and spores of Glomus intrardadices, developing a very useful symbiosis for the development of the plant. Geomicor Radicant is distributed by root fertilization.
Geomics or Tricoder
A radical mycorrhizal product with fungicidal action . The Tricoder is designed to grow useful fungi such as Trichoderma and Actinomycetes such as Streptomyces.
Besides helping the development of horticultural plants, mycorrhizae also antagonize some of the worst crop pathogens such as Armillaria, Phytophthora, Sclerotinia, Fusarium and Pythium.
Geomicor Krini
This product is designed to combine the typical soil revitalization of mycorrhizae with an insecticidal action: it protects garden plants from the most common pests such as beetles, mites, whiteflies and elaterids. Geomicor Krini stimulates the development of useful fungi which would already be present in the soil in small quantities, such as Metarhizium and Beauveria, providing amino acids. As these fungi are pathogenic for many insect pests, mycorrhiza has an insecticidal and preventive function against pests in horticultural plants.
Krini can be used both for root fertilization and leaf spraying.
Geomicor Fulix
Fulix is a product designed to regenerate and tone the soil by stimulating the development of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefacens. These bacilli are useful for plants and exert an antibacterial effect, helping to prevent major bacterial plant diseases such as Erwinia, Botrytis, Xanthomonas, Burkholderia.
It also contains organic nitrogen and potassium, which strengthen the plant. It is suitable for root fertilization and also for leaf fertilization.
How to use these products
The doses of use of these products obviously depend on the plant and the type of crop, we recommend that you contact Geosism & Nature directly to help you in the choice and the dose (tel.: 348 821919, email: info@geosism. it).
To mycorrhize a plant with root fertilization, you can simply put the product in water and irrigate the soil, usually two treatments are carried out after 7-10 days. The foliar treatment, on the other hand, foresees that the product, always diluted, is sprayed, this is only possible for some products that contain bacteria from the rhizosphere capable of surviving even in a subaerial environment. Geosismo & La Naturaleza also offers several other products that can be combined with mycorrhizae to improve their effectiveness.
How long do mycorrhizae last?
Mycorrhiza is a living micro-organism, thanks to its conditioning in an environment of amino acids, Geomicor products can be kept for two years after production.