Subject: Re: blueberry hedge

From: [email-masked] (BRateaver)
Date: 12 Mar 1996 08:03:46 -0500

Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae.
Mycorrhizae are extremely valuable fungi that act as a "bridge between
soil and root", as Sir Albert Howard described them.  They forage widely
in soil, much farther than root hairs can go, and pick up minerals and
probably other nutrients, and bring them into the plant. In return they
get from the plant the sugars they need, so it is a symbiotic system. 
Apparently they also function in some way as regulators, so they are very
important in the root area (rhizosphere).

In forests, these fungi affect not only the initial tree with which they
engage themselves, but also go to other trees, so one could think of the
entire forest as being tied together by these valuable fungi.

There are 2 MAIN  types. One, quite common in tree root systems, is Ecto
mycorrhizae, and these fungi approach a root tip as soon as the tip
appears, attach and start wrapping themselves around the root as it grows.
In the end, the root becomes so wrapped with this valuable fungus, that
the root no longer has any root hairs, and appears like coral, with a
smooth surface.

The other main type, endomycorrhizae, are called VAM because they, instead
of wrapping themselves around a root, will go straight to it and penetrate
through the epidermal cell layer, inserting themselves between the cells,
and penetrate into cells of the outer root tissue. There they form
tree-like or ball-like structures, which are called vesicles/arbuscles,
and that is the origin of the term VAmycorrhizae, or VAM for short.

This has been known for a long time, and the wrap-around type, ecto M,
have been cultured. The man who figured out how to do it got a Nobel prize
for it.

The VAM has been cultured, but every company trying it has always ended up
broke and no one willing to pay the last bit of cash that would have put
the VAM on the market. There is now a man, Michael Brock, who appears to
be succeeding. 

I told him to get to know Dr. Linderman at Ore. State U, and he did, and
this super expert is a consultant to Brock now, so I think it is going to
be a viable undertaking, if enough cash keeps coming in. They now have a
pure culture--not easy to do, since there are so many contaminants around,
and  culture to be salable needs to be sterile of everything but the
desired VAM.  

I have waited a long, long time to see this happen. The last company,
whose name and address I put in my book (Organic Method Primer UPDATE),
was successful, but right at the end, when they needed the cash to get the
product really selling well, their money source quit and I am sorry to say
that makes a useless note in my book! 

Incidentally, you have probably known about the terrible disease,
Armillaria, that kills off rafts of oak trees. That is a bad fungus, but
it operates similarly, because it thrives to the point where it makes
ropes, that go from tree to tree in the soil.  Just shows how cooperative
living tissue can be.

B. Rateaver

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From: [email-masked] (Clifford Eng)
Date: 13 Mar 1996 23:17:35 GMT

Thank you all for your advice.  Sorry, I have been so long in responding
but I have been away. To give further details to those of you who asked. 
I live a suburb of Washington, D.C. (zone 7).  The blueberry bushes have a
partially shaded southern exposure, meaning they get the afternoon sun for
about 4-5 hours.  The soil is heavy red clay that has been amended with
sphagaum moss, oak leaves, and topsoil. In each hole, I added a tin can or
some nails to provide iron.  When I last measured the pH it was around
5.5.  I learned the by lossing one young transplant that neutral pH will
kill it. I fertilize with Hollytone for acid loving shurbs twice last
year.  I may add some sulfur this year. I will try the seaweed as someone
suggested.  While VAM sounds intriguing, it seems unavailable.

Thank you all for your advice.  Sorry, I have been so long in responding
but I have been away. To give further details to those of you who asked. 
I live a suburb of Washington, D.C. (zone 7).  The blueberry bushes have a
partially shaded southern exposure, meaning they get the afternoon sun for
about 4-5 hours.  The soil is heavy red clay that has been amended with
sphagaum moss, oak leaves, and topsoil. In each hole, I added a tin can or
some nails to provide iron.  When I last measured the pH it was around
5.5.  I learned the by lossing one young transplant that neutral pH will
kill it. I fertilize with Hollytone for acid loving shurbs twice last
year.  I may add some sulfur this year. I will try the seaweed as someone
suggested.  While VAM sounds intriguing, it seems unavailable.

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From: [email-masked] (BRateaver)
Date: 15 Mar 1996 06:36:21 -0500

Please don't add sulfur, that is sure to kill what mycorrhizae you may
have there.

You can now order the mycorrhizae, and they have often special cultures
for a particular crop, such as blueberry, squash, corn, etc.

Michael Brock: 241 Lombard St., Suite 7, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, ph
805-230-2511

Please, please, don't add sulfur. It hurts me to have to be thinking of
your soil and all the suffering those poor organisms will have to go thru,
dying. I just can't stand it. Please get the mycorrhizae now and see how
fast you get results. It really and truly does make a difference.

And the seaweed--that has the iron already chelated and ready to go, and
all the minerals in it are in exactly the correct proportion for your
plants. Please use it. You cannot possibly do better.

Probably you got all kinds of info, but believe me, this is the best. It
is not money in or out of my pocket. What I care about is the soil.  Never
mind what other info you get. This is the best--seaweed and mycorrhizae: 

I know it is a tually your business what you do on your own land, but it
just hurts me to think of all those living cellls trying to do their best,
according to what the Creator has told t

B. Rateaver

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From: [email-masked] (BRateaver)
Date: 15 Mar 1996 06:36:26 -0500

Iron and tin cans in holel--not really efficient. The problem is that the
minerals have to be in chelated form, which they are in seaweed. It is the
useful form of the mineral that the plant needs right away. Seaweed result
is instantaneous--molecular reactions are faster than lightning.

If you want to give me your address, I'll send you a dab of powder and you
can try it on a few plants in a corner, or end of a row or whatever, and
you will see the difference. I am so fed up with all the
university-generated crud about pH.

B. Rateaver