Re: [tomato] mycorrhizal fungi
margaret lauterbach (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:38:35 -0600
>Who knows.... maybe I'll even like tomatoes after I use VAM fungi on
>different species and start getting some that are really tasty. <grin>
>Most tomatoes I've grown in the past have been yucky tasting to me... so as
>I get into growing classier tomatoes with VAM, I am expecting to have
>results that will taste much better than the non-VAM treated plants I've
>been growing in the past.
>
>Best Regards,
>
>Thomas Giannou
>Spokane, Washington
Thomas, it's very clever of you to sneak in your sales pitch for VAM by
saying "tomatoes I've grown in the past have been yucky tasting to me, then
have a post in which you praise the flavor of tomatoes.
Here's an example: when my brother who basically dislikes even eating
tomato's, samples some of my cherry tomato's and eats a warm ripe beef steak
tomato from the garden with a little salt and pepper on it says, "This
tastes a heck of a lot better than what I usually experience.... I could
really get used to eating tomato's if they tasted like these!" Then, I am
thinking... it's not just my opinion that those are really good tasting..."
But it really confuses the issue, IMO. I fail to understand just how the
addition of VAM results in less grass production also.
I'm getting a whiff of "you have to buy it every year for maximum
effectiveness." But from what I've read in AHS and other garden magazines,
mycorrhizae are naturally occurring, and if you have an established tomato
patch, the mycorrhizae are there. I have grown tomatoes in the same patch
for all but one of the past 30 years, so if mycorrhizae supporting tomates
could be there, they are. The one concession I'm making is that we're not
tilling that patch this year. We'll just do the Ruth Stout thing and save
our backs. I can see how tilling could damage fragile and invisible (!)
mycorrhizae. So we're selecting natural over man-made stuff, and frankly,
I'm weary of hearing about the stuff. Margaret L