Brewing Mychorrhizal Fungi

[PsyCLown]

So I am wondering whether anyone here has or does brew their own mycorrhizal fungi, how you go about it and so forth.

 

I did a bit of a Google search and seems they say you inoculate a soil mixture with some silica sand and grow some stuff in there (quick growing, a few options listed) and then after 3 - 4 months cut the stuff which forces spores to be created and then pull out, cut the roots and use that.

 

Although when we purchase mycorrhizal fungi it often comes with vermiculite or more commonly a type of pearlite if I am not mistaken?
How does one get it in such a form?

[Totemic]

Your best way is to inoculate a pot and plant wheat grass or millet seeds. Let the roots fill the pot and then snip the roots up to use as a fresh inoculant.

The fungi spreads with the help of the roots they infect.

The commercial mycoroot is an expanded clay microporous substrate. Leca.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Totemic

[Smelly Joe]

Google is great for that I agree. I have a 200L tub sitting at home at this moment that I'm using to make a mycorrhizae "mother tub" experiment. Hopefully it all works out and I can post success later.



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[PsyCLown]

So then if I want to keep some inoculant / spores for later, I can dry the roots out I guess?

Although with fresh mycorrhizal, the mycelium is alive and will help colonize quicker I assume?

 

Millet is found in bird seed? So I can just buy a bag of that instead of looking for some millet seeds, right?

Edited July 15, 2019 by PsyCLown

[Totemic]

The thing with spores is that it takes about 6 weeks for the fungi to establish and become active. Often if you inoculate when planting a seed, the roots have grown away from an innoculation  point.

Live fungi has the advantage of being able to infect the tap root and grow along the roots from the beginning.

Budgie seed is millet. Costs about R10 a kilo.

[greenkush]

Please don't use the word "infect" mycorrhizae is not a pathogen.

[Totemic]

Regardless, if the relationship is symbiotic or not, the way the mycelium penetrates and then multiplies along the cells is infection. It hardly needs to be only pathogenic to be considered an infection. 

Cannabis does not make use of ecto fungi but endo arbuscular fungi. The root cells host the fungi, hence the roots are infected with fungi.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Totemic

[Smelly Joe]

Please don't use the word "infect" mycorrhizae is not a pathogen.

LoL. I was just waiting for that.....

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[PsyCLown]

So was speaking to GK and I may even try growing some on Agar and then using that to inoculate the roots as opposed to growing it with millet in soil.

 

I could then even try isolate to a specific "strain" which colonizes very fast and just keep that alive - but that is quite a bit of effort, so doubt I will go that route.

I'll probably need to find my still air box if I go the agar route.

[Totemic]

Complicated approach imo. You need conditions that emulate the rhizospere. The fungi needs roots to effectively multiply.

Here is a good read if you wanna go an agar route.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC123902/

[Bos]

LoL. I was just waiting for that.....

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Haha had a good chuckle....
The means by which they gain entry to the 'host'- infect. Maybe colonize would be better. But the result is positive symbiosis in which both plants benefit.

As long as the result is positive does it matter how you got there.

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