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Mycorrhizal fungi- apply once or each time you re-pot?

myclayjunglemyclayjungle Posts: 162
in Fruit & veg
I'm mainly referring to vegetable seedlings which might be moved to large pots then the ground, but also flowering plants/shrubs in general.  Do you apply it each time the roots are exposed, or is once enough?
Coastal Suffolk/Essex Border- Clay soil
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Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    My understanding is that it's mostly used when putting plants out into the ground, not when repotting. And yes, there is good scientific evidence that it does help roots get established more quickly.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Is there @Fire, because I am not aware of any good evidence, but have seen plenty of evidence that they do no good.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    A new study.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    This is for replant disease though and not for general planting, where there is no good evidence.
    Logically it makes no sense to me, that apowder of unselected fungi, probably bearing no relationship to what is in your soil, will help, but I am sure it does no harm.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Emperor's new clothes. 
    IMHO, Just a way of sucking money from gullible consumers 
    Devon.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited May 2021
    From what I've read, it does help newly planted plants in the garden get established faster and is helpful if replant disease is likely.
    However after 2-3 years there's little difference between plants planted with MF and those that are not.

    PS - no point is using it for repotting plants

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    myclayjungle said:
    I'm mainly referring to vegetable seedlings which might be moved to large pots then the ground, but also flowering plants/shrubs in general.  Do you apply it each time the roots are exposed, or is once enough?
    I believe the majority benefits are from the mycorrhizal network:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network

    In a pot, theres not going to be much networking going on :)

    I have only added fungi when digging a trench for new trees, to help them establish a new network or connect to the existing network.

    I haven’t heard anything about vegetables, but I’d suspect a fresh vegetable bed, dug over would have had any existing network disrupted.
  • myclayjunglemyclayjungle Posts: 162
    Thanks for the links. Very interesting reads.
    @Hostafan1- I prefer to refer to myself as a novice gardener, rather than a gullible one, but thanks for your opinion  :)
    Coastal Suffolk/Essex Border- Clay soil
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    myclayjungle said:
    Thanks for the links. Very interesting reads.
    @Hostafan1- I prefer to refer to myself as a novice gardener, rather than a gullible one, but thanks for your opinion  :)
    I most certainly wasn't aiming that content at YOU or anyone else in particular. 
    I'm sorry if it came across that way. 
    It was meant as a generalisation.
    Devon.
  • myclayjunglemyclayjungle Posts: 162
    @Hostafan1- no worries at all.  I'm planning a comparison experiment myself with the fungi only on some vegetables. I'll shall report back if there are any noticeable differences at all  :)
    Coastal Suffolk/Essex Border- Clay soil
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