Re: [tomato] Tomato Digest V1 #154

margaret lauterbach (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sat, 27 Feb 1999 14:56:57 -0700 

At 02:33 PM 2/27/99 EST, you wrote:
>In a message dated 2/27/99 12:18:46 PM Central Standard Time,
>thomas@tandjenterprises.com writes:
>
><< I am sharing my personal gardening experiences.  >>
>	
>
>And I, for one, am glad you did.  It is sometimes difficult to share your
>thoughts about your personal experience on many of the gardening lists
because
>a couple of the rudest people are on nearly all of the gardening lists and
>behave the same way on all of the ones they are on.  Their rude comments are
>apparently based on nothing but what they think about other people's
>experience which counts for nothing compared to theirs.    While I am most
>grateful to Chuck for recommending and sharing some of his seeds, which are
>the only seeds I plan to grow this year, he has also offered to sell his
>products on this list and has offered no scientific studies, only his own
>experience to "prove" their worth.  
>
>I earned a BS in Biology while I was in Juneau, and my particular interest
was
>mycorrhiza.  I corresponded with some of the leading scientists in the
country
>as well as read all the literature on the subject. 
>
>The word mycorrhiza literally means fungus-root and refers to this type of
>fungi's habit of growing intimately associated with the roots of plants.
From
>what I read, they now believe that all plants use mycorrhiza to some extent,
>but some more than others.  The first type of mycorrhiza to be discovered was
>ectomycorrhiza which exists outside the cells of the plant root.  Later
>endomycorrhiza were discovered which live inside the root's cells.
>Endomycorrhiza are often associated with annual plants like corn and grasses
>which were first believed not to use mycorrhiza at all.  Some plants, like
>orchids and members of the heather family, including blueberries, are so
>heavily mycorrhiza-dependent that they may not grow at all without
mycorrhiza.
>Mycorrhiza, in fact, are believed to actually do most of the mineral and
water
>absorption for the plant.  Most of the functions that most people believe
>roots do are actually done by mycorrhiza.
>
>I remember some dramatic results that were shown in a scientifc experiment
>performed by the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon.  The Douglas Firs doubled
>their growth with mycorrhiza.  In fact, they found that when squirrels eat
the
>mushrooms produced my mycorrhizal fungi, the spores of the fungus passed
>unchanged through their systems, ready to sprout when they hit the ground.
>They also found that the first place trees return to an area that has been
>logged is along the path that the squirrels take, and this is believed to be
>due to the association of mycorrhiza with the tree seeds and seedlings.  
>
> To the untrained eye, mushrooms are seldom seen.  But to the trained eye,
the
>fungus that produces mushrooms is everywhere.  The mushroom is the fruit, and
>just as the apple tree remains when the tree is gone, the fungi is still
>there.   Some people, therefore, may not believe that mycorrhiza need to be
>added, but those Douglas Fir experiments in Oregon showed that additional
>mycorrhiza did produce results.  I would be glad to hear more about your
>product, and since you are working with it and tomatoes, believe that it is
>list-worthy.  Thanks again for sharing.
>
>Linda Kuczwanski
>
Very interesting post, thank you.  I would agree wholeheartedly with you if
Giannou weren't the salesman for the product.  Margaret Lauterbach