feng shui

ooloo

There is an old gardener down the street from my house, who has numberous of pines and bonsais. Somehow his trees were always doing so much better than mine. Same weather, same darn species, same size of containers, same watering schedule (I hope), but mine refused to do as well as his.

He had no idea why his were so heathier. We ended up agreeing that his feng shui must be better. Either that or he must had been talking and singing to his trees more than I. Well, one day I stumbled on his secret.

I was at the farm store to pick up my usual bags of fert when I saw he and his son loading the truck with, guess what, spent mushroom compost (SMC) bags. I saw this many times in the past, but had never payed any attention. This time the darn bell in my head just went "boing...". Eureka, I got it! There was a connection...

--- "Mycorrhizal Types

Two main types of mycorrhizae may be found, depending on whether the fungus penetrates into the root cells or not: ectomycorrhizae and endomycorrhizae.

Ectotrophic types, or ectomycorrhizae, are found in roots of trees such as pines, birches, willows, and oaks. This type causes a drastic change in the root shape. The ectomycorrhizal fungus penetrates between the cell walls of the cortex and forms a covering sheath, or mantle, of fungal hyphae around the entire root. Ectomycorrhizae are short and forked and sometimes appear as tight clusters ( Figure 1a, 1b ). Most ectomycorrhizal fungi produce MUSHROOMS ( Figure 1c, 1d, 1e ) and can be cultivated in CULTURE MEDIA in the laboratory." ---

We were right, his "feng shui" was better, much better.

ooloo

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Dkozi

I'm always fascinated with mixin' it up from time to time. I know where I can get some SMC so I'll likely give it whirl.

As of late I've been mulching around my trees that are in grow boxes. Guess what. Mulch works for saving moisture in grow boxes too. Although they still dry much quicker than in the ground planting but it keeps the top of the soil itself from drying out too quickly.

I'm glad you shared. Unfortunately stripping the soil of it water saving properties we also strip it of much of the beneficial fungi and microbes. I would even be inclined to turn this into a compost tea to water with when I finally put my tree in pots.

Thanks again. -Dkozi