Mycorrhizal Fungi (Rootgrow,etc)

[It never rains..it pours]

Has anyone tried this on bareroot trees, etc at planting vs not using it iand seen any benefit please ?

[nickdub]

Be pretty hard for any single person to comment on something like this, except anecdotally. What you need for evidence is some sort of systematic trial.

It is however well established that some plants use/need fungi to help their roots in some ways, so given that it seems unlikely that there's any harm to be done by using these preparations it probably just comes down to cost.

[bario1]

Given the price and potential longevity of good quality fruit trees, roses etc, I've always felt it's been worth a few extra quid to give them the best possible start...

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you Nickdub and Bario1 for the replies
Had a search this evening and if read the non biased trials (hopefully) then it does have a small effect that compounds over time. New cheap bareroot plum tree got at weekend is my target and the below trial says 10% higher yield when 3 years in Poland. Inoculated and non inoculated seemed to produce alot of fruit young to me
http://www.inhort.pl/files/journal_p...010%282%29.pdf

[nickdub]

The problem with yield figures for fruit as I see it is that there are so many variables when growing on a garden scale. Pollination, frost, the suitability of the plant to the soil etc

Just to take one specific issue as a for example. I live in the country near woodland which is lovely but also means I get the benefit of lots of wildlife. Around this time of year the bullfinches eat flower buds because there is very little other natural food around for them. When my plum trees were smallish they used to strip every single bud from all the trees . Now 30 years later some of the trees are over 20 feet high, they usually leave me enough plum buds to get a crop.

My best advice to you is to go down the pub or wherever and have a long chat with some of the old blokes who know about growing fruit in your area. If you can tap in to 20 or 30% of the knowledge they have, it will repay the time you spend ten-fold.

[burnie]

I've used it on Roses and they are thriving, I have an older Rose that didn't get any and it looks less happy, now this could be for different reasons of course.

[Diana Barnes]

The problem with yield figures for fruit as I see it is that there are so many variables when growing on a garden scale. Pollination, frost, the suitability of the plant to the soil etc

Just to take one specific issue as a for example. I live in the country near woodland which is lovely but also means I get the benefit of lots of wildlife. Around this time of year the bullfinches eat flower buds because there is very little other natural food around for them. When my plum trees were smallish they used to strip every single bud from all the trees . Now 30 years later some of the trees are over 20 feet high, they usually leave me enough plum buds to get a crop.

My best advice to you is to go down the pub or wherever and have a long chat with some of the old blokes who know about growing fruit in your area. If you can tap in to 20 or 30% of the knowledge they have, it will repay the time you spend ten-fold.

I love my wildlife and got so excited when I saw a bull finch for the first time in my garden after 20 years of living here. Then I realised it was the reason why my poor old bramley apple tree was struggling to produce three or four apples!!! But I still love the birds and maybe this year will be a better one for apples. Last year was dire!!
I always listened to the "Old Blokes" on my allotment. Sadly,now I think I may be the oldest "bloke", but I certainly value all the advice they gave me back in the beginning.

[Diana Barnes]

Has anyone tried this on bareroot trees, etc at planting vs not using it iand seen any benefit please ?

Not an easy question to answer. There are many plants that have a symbiotic relationship with a particular fungus and are dependent on it for survival. The common wild orchid is one of the smaller ones. The Mycorrhizal fungus product you buy will contain spores of many different fungi which are most commonly found associated with garden plants. Much depends on the soil structure and it's biodiversity and also which plants are present. With so many variables it's difficult to say if there is benefit or not. It would need a controlled experiment on your patch to say wether yields would benefit. You can't do any harm adding this at planting time. It may be interesting, if you have two plants of the same variety or type to give one the fungus treatment and the other not and see what happens . If you notice a definite benefit on the treated tree then give the other a belated dose to help it along

[nickdub]

Hi Diana - please take pride in your ""Old Blokeishness" - someone has to pass the knowledge on to the young whippersnappers :-) Nick

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you for the replies. Yes I always ask the more experienced locals when can. Brought some root grow, used on the new bare root plum tree but can't trail as only have one to plant. But have also added it to 50% of the new raspberry canes and strawberry runners, so will see what results.