How Many Beneficial Functions & Services can be found in just one Fungi Species ?

So let's focus mainly on one fungi species in particular and two varieties,  Trichoderma virens and Trichoderma harzianum

Image: US Department of Agriculture
Trichoderma harzianum

Image: Manidharma Biotech

Trichoderma harzianum

The photograph above under magnification is beautiful, almost like a snowflake developing it's hexagonal branching. These see though glass looking structures are called conidiophores which are the specialized branching hypha of the fungi which also produce spores. The photo at right here of the fungi specimen in the glass petri dish looks more like that common yucky mold folks find in the kitchen or bathroom where one wants to reach immediately for that chemical spray to kill it straight away. Yes, Trichoderma is not as sexy looking and/or  delicious as some of it's culinary cousins, but it's an incredible workhouse of the microbial community. We could compare them to the lowly payed blue collar laborer who is the hard working backbone of any society. Yes there are more well known rich  attractive celebrity types [sports stars, Hollywood movie stars, Rock Singers, etc, etc, etc], who are better known for no other reason than they stand out among the average person, but these people would be absolutely nothing were it not for those blue collar folks [plumbers, carpenters, sanitation workers, maids, gardeners, farm hand  workers, etc etc etc] who keep society's infrastructure in top working order. And so that is exactly how this lowly inconspicuous, but incredibly numerous hard working fungi are to the natural world's various larger than life beautiful plant community ecosystems. These Trichoderma varieties and/or strains of fungi have incredible abilities for the benefits of both plant immune systems and the soil health and nutrition in general by helping to regulate improved growth even under stresses. What got me curious originally about the Trichoderma was what I read on my last package of MycoApply Soluble Maxx which had on the ingredients list 19 species of mycorrhizae (9 endo & 10 etco), 12 species of beneficial bacteria and 2 species of Trichoderma. Trichoderma ??? I had never explored these before, so I thought it would be fun to find out what they would add to my landscape's ecosystem. At first I looked at Trichoderma harzianum to see what benefits have been realized in the landscape, agriculture, garden, etc. Then I also looked at Trichoderma virens which also has some incredible effects it can trigger on plant growth and their immune systems. Use of visual aids are always good in educating people on certain things they consider mostly BORING! So apparently both these fungi can have a huge impact on helping the plant fight off pathogens. 

Plant root colonization by different Trichoderma strains can activate in the plant a systemic defense response that is effective against a very wide range of plant pathogens. A plant's immune system also has a wide variety hormones which play pivotal roles in the regulation of the defense signaling network that leads to the processes of systemic resistance triggered by beneficial micro-organisms. One of the most important of these chemical defenses, jasmonic acid and ethylene (like ethylene gas for fruit ripening) signaling pathways are generally essential for triggering these immune system responses. However, this Trichoderma Immune System Response (TISR) is believed to involve a wider variety of signaling routes, interconnected in a complex network of cross-communicating hormone pathways. For example the experiment above with tomatoes grown in Greenhouses is a perfect example of where Trichoderma harzianum can trigger an immune response  against a leaf pathogen called Botrytis cinerea. Root colonization by the Trichoderma harzianum provided these tomato leaves with much more resistant to Botryis cinerea independently of major effects on plant nutrition. You can see the results from the above images which show tomatoes grown under greenhouse conditions which displayed vigorous health compared to the one which succumbed to the infection. Now I've never personally experience such infection on any tomato leaves in gardens I've raised, but this type of fungus disease is much more common in a more humid greenhouse environment than outdoors. However this disease is more common among grapes and strawberries. However, once again it's the closed in humid greenhouse environment which makes this a challenge and this is important because these days so much of our vegetables in and around urban areas where land is scare are produced. So how kool is this that the Trichoderma fungi can create the necessary hormonal signalling network behind the systemic resistance induced by Trichoderma harzianum in tomato instead of farmers having to rely on the traditional cocktails of chemical fungicides ?

Model: Department of Microbiology and Symbiotic Systems, Granada Spain

This animated model shows very simply the two sides of a tomato plant. One side colonized with the Trichoderma and the other side not. The colonized side triggers the messaging system and epigenetic switches turned on for the manufacture of important chemical compounds to ward of pathogens and even herbivore attacks by insects. Although mainly this was a study on Greenhouse Tomato plants susceptible to the fungal disease. Let me take one other variety of this fungi, Trichoderma virens as pictured below. 

Photo courtesy of: Charles M. Kenerley and Prasun Mukherjee.

"Coiling of Trichoderma hyphae around Rhizoctonia (a basidiomycete pathogen). The coiling response of T. virens is induced by the presence of host hyphae and precedes penetration of the host."

Photo Courtesy of Dr Randy Martin, Bioworks, Inc.

"Scanning electron micrograph of the surface of a hyphae of the plant pathogen Rhizoctonia solani after mycoparasitic Trichoderma hyphae invades the pathogen by boring holes into the pathogen with various cell wall degrading enzymes"

"Trichoderma species are free-living fungi that are common in soil and root ecosystems. They have been widely studied for their capacity to produce antibiotics, parasitize other fungi, and compete with deleterious plant microorganisms. Until recently, these traits were considered to be the basis for how Trichoderma exert beneficial effects on plant growth and development. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that certain strains also have substantial direct influence on plant development and crop productivity. Trichoderma enhancement of plant growth has been known for many years and can occur in axenic systems or in soils"

Image: Cornell

"In maize (Corn) plants, Trichoderma inoculation affected root system architecture, which was related to increased yield of plants. Reported effects include enhanced root biomass production and increased root hair development. The root system is important for plant fitness because it provides anchorage, contributes to water use efficiency, and facilitates the acquisition of mineral nutrients from the soil. Many lines of evidence strongly support a role for auxin in the regulation of root system architecture. Application of natural and synthetic auxins increases lateral root and root hair development, whereas auxin transport inhibitors reduce root branching." 

"Conversely, increased formation of lateral roots has been observed in Arabidopsis thaliana (or Thale Cress) mutants with elevated auxin content . . " 

" . . .Despite auxin being a major player in root growth regulation, little is known about its role in plant growth promotion by fungi."

"To elucidate the signaling mechanisms by which Trichoderma species promote plant growth and development, we evaluated the Arabidopsis response to inoculation with two Trichoderma species, Trichoderma atroviride (formerly known as Trichoderma harzianum) and Trichoderma virens. The two fungal species were found to promote Arabidopsis seedling growth under axenic conditions. Plant growth promotion elicited by these fungi correlated with prolific formation of lateral roots. A role for auxin signaling in mediating the observed developmental alterations by Trichoderma virens inoculation in plants was inferred from tests using the auxin-responsive marker constructs. We further show that Trichoderma virens is able to produce the indolic compounds indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-acetaldehyde (IAAld), and indole-3-ethanol (IEt), which may play roles in mediating plant growth promotion by this fungus."

(Source)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Important terms to define and explain from the above research article:

"Auxins" - a plant hormone that causes the elongation of cells in shoots and is involved in regulating plant growth. Basically can encourage growth by means of a signaling process as seen in the examples of thick Corn root infrastructure.

"Jasmonic Acid" (JA) - and its derivatives are lipid-based hormone signals that regulate a wide range of processes in plants, ranging from growth and photosynthesis to reproductive development. In particular, JAs are critical for plant defense against herbivory and plant responses to poor environmental conditions and other kinds of abiotic and biotic challenges. Some JAs can also be released as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to permit communication between plants in anticipation of mutual dangers.

"Axenic" - In biology, axenic describes the state of a culture in which only a single species, variety, or strain of organism is present and entirely free of all other contaminating organisms. The earliest axenic cultures were of bacteria or unicellular eukaryotes, but axenic cultures of many multicellular organisms are also possible. Axenic culture is also an important tool for the study of symbiotic and parasitic organisms in a controlled manner.

Now that last defined term is interesting in that in studying the subject here of Trichoderma, we want no outside contamination of any other organism within our experiment. We want to observe the effect the Trichoderma fungi alone has on plants. Clearly the effects of Trichoderma appear to provide multiple positive benefits. But now comes the tricky part. It's one thing to have it work in a lab, but how well will these same functions and benefits work in the field. Well, you can read on further down below. However, when any of these Mycorrhizal Inoculent producing companies are experimenting for that magical powder or solution as an inoculum, sometimes the desired results may not translate as well in the field tests as they did on paper in the Lab. Why ?? Because once in the field, that single organism that did all those wonderful things now has to compete with a plethora of other like organisms. While there  may have some colonization of a certain specific target species of your favourite fungi on some roots, the effects could be minimal because of the competition already occupying root space as compared to if the fungi were alone. So there are going to be many more challenges in research and experimentation on finding a beneficial as well as tough enough fungi to fit into your magic inoculum product. Can you imagine where we'd be if science decades ago had spent more time observing, admiring and replicating nature as opposed to viewing it as flawed, imperfect and so badly designed that the route taken was to genetically manipulate imaginary improvements to plants while totally ignoring Nature's optimization performance enhancing after market add ons ? 

 The other two terms up there Auxins and Jasmonic Acids in which the Trichoderma can act as an inducer for the production of these growth enhancing and pathogen suppressing immune system tools are also wonders to behold, especially in the light of the successful experiments mentioned below. Drought Stress tolerance enhancers, growth and nutritional enhancers, aside from the pathogen suppressing elements against diseases and insect herbivore attacks. Why Science is still trying to decipher how the hormonal signalling network behind the systemic resistance induced by Trichoderma harzianum in tomato actually works. Yes, where would our world now be if the direction of Science went here instead of artificial money making industrial opportunities ? One thing is for sure, most of the industrial giants would be so giant, especially if Farmers ever gained the knowledge that they could accomplish successes by changing practices and making money by not having to fork over hard earned money to others for basic substandard environmental destroying products.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Here is an interesting example below of a company that has tested Trichoderma on  Corn in the field for drought stress. 

The company ABM with Dr Gary Harman PhD is a new one for me. I have never used their product and I am not necessarily endorsing it. You will have to do further homework. What interests me here in the video below are the results of drought stressed Corn left to it's own without the aid of further water supplementation where two scenarios of one control or untreated field and one field treated with this company's Trichoderma product. It's four minutes long and you'll have to watch it to the end to get the entire story. I've also posted a very wonderful easy to follow article written by Gary Harman which should illuminate further the benefits of this one particular Fungi.

Frankly I find this stuff fascinating every time I stumble across other folks with kool experiences. But there are some precautionary things you need to keep in mind. People want an instant acting magic powder or liquid Elixir to perform insta-poof results on their plants which often times is all they get from the agro-chemical companies. This isn't about instantaneous results. I've given this illustration before. A person who becomes a sports star, Hollywood Celebrity or political darling doesn't do so over night. They work hard at their career often sacrificing a real normal life, even family to obtain that immortality of celebrity status. Many take decades accomplishing this. Then in a moment of weakness, they do something controversial, stupid and outrageous behaviour-wise and their career slips into the toilet. It may take a very long time to heal wounds and erase the damage done almost overnight. Just maybe they can rescue their career out of the toilet. The natural world is the same. It has taken the natural world 10s of 1000s of years to develop an Earth into a beautiful paradisaic state. And yet in little over 100+ years (1914) of so-called scientific enlightenment to the present, our Earth and it's various life sustaining mechanisms are now on the brink of total collapse. My field of interest has always traditionally been ecto-mycorrhizal fungi and experimenting with various species of these fungi with specific species of plants and under varied environmental conditions. Delving into the Endo-mycorrhizal world and all other associated beneficial organisms has really been a further eye opening reward. The results not just through reading, but practical application which have brought me personal successes has been rewarding. 

Photo: forestimages.org

The Biostimulants companies have got to better educate the public in common everyday language minus all the intellect speak if wishing to reach the average person. With Farmers, don't tell them in a sales pitch  that if they use such n such miracle product they will find sure success. Explain the truth of the matter in simple terms. Tell them that damaged soils do not heal overnight in one season. Seriously, many people actually believe this. It may take two or three years, maybe more. Restoring a biological degraded field which percolates a half inch an hour of rain needs time. Healthy biologically rich soils should be able to percolate up to 8 inches an hour. You can accelerate that time not only through a healthy inoculation program, but planting as much as 20 different species of perennial prairie pasture plants which will further enhance the microbial community underground. The more species of plants & Mycorrhiza species will quicken the healing. Same with the Ecot-Mycorrhizal World. Take a look at the pine seedlings with the small Pisolithus tinctorius truffle in the photo above right. Time and again in my experience [and I have written about this on numerous posts], this ecto-mycorrhizal fungi will form a truffle two weeks after I inoculate an established or newly planted pine or oak tree in the summertime. And every time a single truffle will appear at the size of an average adult male's thumb in about two weeks, which lets me know the fungi has colonized and is feeding off the carbon of it's host in order to make this thumb sized truffle. Now, what a person should never expect that first year is to see a dramatic difference in the growth and vigor of the host plant's foliage. Mostly it will be in a neutral state. However by next Spring after Winter rains, you should expect an explosion of growth with larger that previously experienced foliage size. This has been my experience every single time. Now how often do you get a Biostimulant Company Salesman telling you such pertinent information ? Same with Farming and Endo-mycorrhizal colonization of crops. How many Biostimulant company salesmen are going to take the time to explain to prospective clients who just happen to be farmers how they should first build a healthy microbial community in the soils before they plant a money making crop ? Almost none. I know because I have gotten feedback from Farmers who were sold a story which failed to deliver as promised  that first season because some salesman actually had no hands on experience in practical application of his or her own product. It took decades to destroy the microbial community and it will take time to re-establish, but knowing a few simple tricks can speed that rebuilding process up. Now take a look at this moving image below.

Illustrative animation by chronotext.org

I've always loved this GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) from the very first time I ever saw it. Though it was created for an entirely different purpose by it's creators, I found probably an even more important illustrative usage for it. The environment's various epigentic effects on how an organisms various DNA components and informational content are expressed in various different ways for adaptability and survival. Take the strings of letters, making words and eventually sentences of meaning in the GIF. Now look at those shadowy hands influencing how those letters which make up words will be laid out and expressed differently depending on the environmental context of life's chapters in a book. Maybe the book can be viewed as life in general on earth. The chapters of that book being various ecosystems [deserts, tropical forests, Temperate forests, Boreal forests, Mediterranean Chaparral systems, etc]  as defined by climate with localized weather event like droughts (heat, cold, humidity, etc], freezing rains or snows [possible seasons], flooding events, perhaps geography or elevation, etc. Further the changes could be influenced by predators, invasive species totally foreign to the exiting environment which demands change or go extinct. In any event, such environmental conditions trigger responses through an organism's receptors or sensory mechanisms which in turn trigger epigenetic switches to be turned either on or off depending on the requirements. These shadowy hands and fingers represent the context of the environment working and influencing how genetic information within DNA is expressed. I've always loved Alfred Russel Wallace's explanation over Darwin for how the environment can influences specific mechanized change as compared to the silly use of the term, "Natural Selection" which is so often depicted as some sort of mystic Tinker Bell which accomplishes amazing changes in mysterious inexplicable ways. The term "Natural Selection" is often used as a lazy default answer in discussion where no real details are available or can be identified for further intelligent explanation of change. Request further information and details on the subject in question and you generally are bombarded with a plethora of derogatory insults, foul language and insulting name calling, all of which apparently are the new enlightened way of discussing and disseminating information about scientific matters these days.

But on the intelligent side of epigentics and it's work on triggering specific switches within even the fungal organism Trichoderma itself, this is where the subject becomes much easier to understand from an organized mechanisms standpoint and practical application by means of biomimicry. Google this organism through various scenarios of environments and plants it colonizes and all manner of epigenetic schematic effects come up. Depending on soil environment and the specific plant it chooses as it's host, there are a number of different things it can accomplish and influence through the biological messaging network. This is the way the plant health care industry should have pursued things years ago and they chose not to for strictly financial gain reasons. It's important for landscapers, gardeners and farmers to understand even to a limited degree of  how their practices [Good, Neutral or Bad] can and do have an important epigenetic gene expression effect on their living landscape. For example, in the modern conventional excessive use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, there is an epigentic effect on a host plant shutting down it's signalling chemical compounds which triggers the ongoing colonization message to mycorrhizal fungi which in effect says, "Hey I need you." Too much synthetic fertilizers inform the plant that an abundance of nutrition is available and the services of the mycorrhizal fungi are no longer needed. The chemical signalling is shut down and the fungi disconnect. In so doing the plant now has a far limited root absorption infrastructure and has become totally dependent on regular feeding program by the gardener, landscaper or farmer. It is also now further vulnerable to pathogens [soil & air borne] since the regulatory mechanisms and chemical inducer network provided by the fungi are no longer available to trigger alerts ahead of time. This works in the agro-chemical company's favour because a host of other chemicals like herbicides, fungicides and insecticides [in general more Pesticides period] must be employed to compensate for the loss of the fully functioning plant immune system. Basically your plant is now on life support and dependent on you more than ever now. Bottom line, inputs go up and profits go down. It just depends on how much a person is willing to learn and manage their program to the most sustainable outcome potential possible.

Real quick, I'll just stop here with one further easy to understand reference and not burden you with any more material than can be absorbed.

Some Easy to understand References

This was a great reference with easy to understand terminology and illustrations. It apparently was created by Dr Gary Harman when he was with Cornell Iniversity and BioWorks, Inc., Geneva, New York

Myths and Dogmas of Biocontrol - Gary Harman

Trichoderma - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Trichoderma virens, a Plant Beneficial Fungus, Enhances Biomass Production and Promotes

 Growth through an Auxin-Dependent Mechanism in Arabidopsis Lateral Root

California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) growth explosion with Mycorrhizal Fungi

A California Fan Palm planted into a front yard landscape from a one gallon container out performs 3  five gallon Mexican Fan Palms which not only had a more massive root system, but also three times the height. So what happened ??? - "Mycorrhizal Fungi"

(image: Mine July 2014)

Image taken on July 2014

It all began last year at the start of July 2014, I purchased four more Palms for my mothers front yard to create the appearance of an Oasis among plants of the Pea family like Red Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), Baja Fairyduster (Calliandra californica) & Screwbean Mesquite (Prosopis pubescens). There was already an existing Mexican Fan Palm which had volunteered on my mother's property and my brother had moved it back in 2005 to where you see it in the photograph above. I'm still blown away by the fact that since 2006, that palm has grown very slowly from from a foot tall plant to what you see here above in last year's photograph. You may want to take special note of the size of not only the one gallon Washingtonia filifera, but also the height of the Washingtonia mexicana in the background which you'll seed more than doubled in height in the September 2015 photograph. But what blew me away on this year's (2015) return is to see what has happened with the one gallon California Fan Palm I purchased from Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery in relation to 3 other purchased five gallon Mexican Fan Palms I purchased from Lowes on the last week of July 2014 when I planted them. This native Southern California palm is just normally slower growth than it's cousin the Mexican Fan Palm.

The major difference maker was inoculating the California Fan Palm heavily within the soil at planting time with the as opposed to simply planting the Mexican Fan Palms without the beneficial fungi. The reason is I thought the Mexican Fan Palms would explode with fast growth on their own because as a natural rule they are much faster growing than Washingtonia filifera. Wow was I ever wrong. The California Fan Palm grew another three feet, while 2 of the five gallon Mexican Fan Palms put on only a foot of growth. The third Mexican Fan Palm actually died. I seriously should have inoculated everything. But after all these years of successes and positives which have greatly exceeded all expectations, I'm still excited by amazing changes almost before my very eyes. We're talking just exactly a year and two months. This is why documenting such things is so important, because those who are behind the Industrial Agriculture business model are not at all in favour of such practices and their successes. But take a look at last year's (2014) W. filifera to this year's (2015) results below.

Over four foot of growth between the period of July 2014 to August 2015. So why is it again that home owners and professional landscapers have preferred using the faster growing Washingtonia robusta over the so-called slower growing native Southern California - Washingtonia filifera ???

(image: Mine Sept 2015)

(image: Mine July 3, 2014)

The photograph above of the California Fan Palm is little over four foot tall as I did measure it at the frond tips. At the time of planting, this one gallon tree was barely one foot tall at the tips of it's small fronds. The big difference maker was inoculation with Mycorrhizal Applications Inc's product called MycoApply. I should also note however that I also bored holes in the ground around the base of the large 11 year old Mexican Fan Palm (why I don't know) and again with the Engelmann Oak (Quercus engelmannii) on the opposite side of that largest and oldest Mexican Fan Palm as well. In any event, you can also notice the drastic difference in growth with that 11 year old Mexican Fan Palm in the same landscape Oasis photo at the very bottom of this post if you scroll on down. But also take a look at the 2013 one gallon Engelmann Oak (again purchased from Las Pilitas) which was planted in the front yard Oasis on April 2013 and the contrast of where it is today 2015. 

(image: Mine September 2015)

(image: Mine June 2013)

This one gallon Engelmann Oak was purchased and planted in late May of 2013. The first photo on the right side here  was actually taken on June 30th 2013 where you can see how that year's Spring branch buds which sprouted after planting grew another few more inches. So technically this small tree was less than a foot of growth from the Nursery. The top photograph above shows the tree actually well over six foot tall. I'm 6.3 foot tall, so it was a nice surprise also to see the growth of this tree slightly towering over me. I also imagine that the mycorrhizal fungi from the Oak has  moved underground towards that largest Mexican Fan Palm you see to the left in the Oak photograph above. Once again, compare the height of that Palm today (2015) compared to last year (2014). Big difference. Still the slow growth of the five gallon planted Mexican Fan Palms was a surprise to me, but I'll inoculate them this year before I go back to Sweden. During yesterday's monsoonal rainstorm, the curb on the opposite side of my mother's street rain had flood water reaching 5 foot out from the curb towards the center of the street. I grabbed a five gallon orange Home Depot bucket and placing it in the deepest part of the runoff against the curb, the bucket filled up in a matter of seconds. I then proceeded to walk back to my Mother's front yard and dump the contents under various shrubs. It just kills me to see such as waste of city storm runoff which ends up downstream into the ocean. This runoff develops from all the concrete and asphalt surfaces of a housing development called Sky Ranch built on top of Rattlesnake Mountain above Pepper Drive Elementary School. I made more than 50+ trips right about the time School let out at 3:00 pm. I got soaking wet, but it felt wonderful. The kids parents were parked up and down the street. Some snickered, others complimented me.  Some day these municipal flood control infrastructures within city limits are going to be designed or redesigned to be better at rainwater harvesting and infusing such water into the city park landscapes and road medians. It just makes logical sense. Anyway, the rainfall totals over my mother's landscape artificially increased by a couple more inches, especially around the Manzanitas. 

(image: Mine September 2015)
 Basically 4 years old landscape from 2011

(image: Mine Sept 2015)

Mexican Red Bird of Paradise 
seeds germinatinng after one rainstorm

This is a contrasting view of the same photo at the top of this post which was taken last year. Notice in this year's photo above how much growth and taller the largest 11 year old Mexican Fan Palm has gotten when you look at it's height as seen behind the Baja Fairyduster ? And to me there is not a whole lot of noticeable difference in the smaller Mexican Fan Palm here than the photo at top. The California Fan Palm is hidden behind this largest Palm and out of view. Also take special note of the photo here at the right. We had a wonderful long soaking monsoonal rain on our visit in September which lasted most of the day and tapering off during the night with mist through this morning. These seeds on the concrete driveway are from the Mexican Red Bird of Paradise and they are some of the easiest things I have ever germinated and grown. We have no weeds, but the seedlings would almost qualify as they are very prolific in germinating. Seriously, I don't know why anyone would ever purchase one of these plants at a retail nursery. One of the greatest compliments I've gotten over the last few days working out in the yard and trimming is people walking past the house wondering what I feed the landscape to make everything so lush and intense as far as flowering. My response of course is nothing. I have never once used either synthetic nor organic fertilizers to accomplish anything. All plants are inoculated generally at time of planting and the only other addition is mulch. As a side point here before I continue, take note of the photo from four years ago in 2011. Take note how tall the largest Mexican Fan Palm was back then and it was already 4 years old and barely hanging on, before I started inoculating with MycoApply. 

Same exact location, but photo is from 2011

(image: Mine 2015)

Can you find the Spider ?

Sometimes in the beginning after the original installation and inoculation, I'll inoculate further the next year and perhaps a couple years after that to build up soil microbial community and build up the soil carbon. My only yearly addition into the landscape is a thin layer of decorative pine or cedar mulch which will break down slowly by the mycorrhizae and other beneficial bacteria which will release nutrients back into the system ever so slowly. Under the the synthetic industrial science-based method, most of the fertilizer is lost to percolation and runoff. The point is once you create a natural healthy ecosystem within your own urban landscape, the health of the entire plant community increases negating the need for all the other industrial science-based synthetic chemicals such as insecticides and herbicides. The use of insecticides destroys every single beneficial predator insects such as the Spider shown above left. She was a surprise to find. I only noticed her because of the long trail of dired flower petals caught or woven into her foot long nest. Interesting I wondered what exactly she was catching, possibly bees. However my mother has a motion censor nightlight on the corner of the garage and when walking out the front door at night it is triggered to come on. Several nights I walked out and notice in the Red Bird of Paradise bush the blooms were being visited by numerous little white Moths with black speckles on their  wings. That was interesting since many types of garden and farm pest moths fly at night in desert agricultural areas. Hence such checks & balances critters are imperative. But the synthetic chemicals target them as well as pests and in their absence, the pest populations rise despite the chemicals. Once this type of industrial scenario is created, then you become shackled and prisoner into following the industrial maintenance program. And the sad fact is you cannot win. The only winner is the industrial agro-chemical company. Much of the synthetic fertilizers cause excessive growth which attracts insect pests and many pathogenic diseases in the form of powdery mildew etc. This is the same program or system used to grow your food found at the local grocery store produce aisles. The need for synthetic chemical herbicides also radically decreases as the mycorrhizal networks outcompete the weeds (ruderals) for available soil phosphorus. Weeds thrive in a bacterial soil system, not a mycorrhizal one. Any weeds that do make the occasional appearance are greatly stunted. Generally my mother's landscape has 4 or 5 anual weeds within the mycorrhizal soils in her landscape's sphere of influence and generally stunted with no effect on the trees, shrubs and other plants. 

(image: Mine 2014)

BTW, last year when planting the other palms, this palm root from the largest tree was 14 foot away from the Mexican Fan Palm. It reveals just how far palms will go in search of water. It's extremely imperative that people reading here do not simply take my word for all this, but make practical application within their own landscape or gardening projects. By all means challenge my methods, please.  This is what burns knowledge of such methods into your mind's personal experience. The majority of people have been indoctrinated into the industrial conventional business model through millions of dollars of annual advertising and also the infusing of massive amounts of funding within this world's Academia to maintain the industrial status quo. The earth simply cannot afford this type of irresponsible behaviour any longer. This isn't about pseudoscience or anti-science, this is about horrible irresponsible science versus good healthy holistic biomimetic science.

(Caesalpinia pulcherrima and caesalpinia mexicana)

The plant above on the right in the photo is Mexican Yellow Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana). It would make a nice contrast in the landscape. While I love the Red Bird of Paradise, it can be overwhelming with too much of the same colour. I already have several of the native South American native Yellow Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia gilliesii - native to Argentina & Bolivia) planted throughout, but they flower very early in Spring season where the others are mainly in full summer blooming. These of course naturalize very easily and we also have to pull up seedlings as they appear, but not hard to keep a handle on. Below I'll post some links of previous articles on planting members of the Pea family (Legume) and I'll also provide the post of where the Oasis landscape was planted in the dead heat of summer during 100+ Fahrenheit (40 celsius) intense heat. It really can be done and while mycorrhizal fungi inoculum is a must, the timing of the day is everything. I'm not sure how many will read this post or take it seriously, but at the very least I've been further able to document something I should have recorded years ago. People are going to have to start viewing nature as a sophisticated biological machines with various fascinating complex components. By far the most amazing thing about this subject was something that I didn't expect from the California Fan Palm and that was extremely rapid growth. Even with the mycorrhizae colonized on the root system, I fully expected little change from when I planted that little one gallon Fan Palm. I never cease to be amazed by these successes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Year's (2016) Experiment Watch: Mexican Blue Fan Palm (Brahea armata)

Image: My Sister Aimee (November 2015)
Two Mexican Blue Fan Palms from 5 Gallon Containers

 Next year in in Spring I hope I am able to come back over and check on the progress of to entirely different palms which are even more challenging when it comes to slow growth. These are the two Mexican Blue Fan Palms (Brahea armata) that I planted just the last week of my visit in El Cajon. The growth on these are extremely slow compared to most and they are extremely root sensitive, so what difference with the MycoApply Soluble Maxx have on their growth is anyone's guess. I'd love to see a dramatic change because these are so rarely messed with by most landscapers and homeowners for the simple reason people want instant landscape and for the fact that many still are not all that attracted to plants with a gray/blue green foliage. One thing that helps in decision making in my personal experience is being capable of visualizing what any tree or shrub will look like in the landscape. It is imperative to understand the plant's height, width, it's silhouette especially for a background tree as both of these. In my mind, I picture the example in the photo at right. In my opinion they are one of the more handsome palms when in flower as you can see in the photo. On the wait and see challenge side of things when it comes to root sensitivity, ever see those large semi tractor trailer flatbed trucks hauling large several meters high palms being transported from Tree Farms to landscape location in the desert resort areas ? It is almost impossible to do that with a Mexican Blue Fan Palm. When the machinery in the orchard cuts the roots and pulls the tree from the ground, most palms are fine, but not the Blue Fan Palm. They require the movers to first use a propane blow torch and burn the root system. This cauterizes the wounded root cuts, because otherwise being normally planted in the ground like other palms, it would bleed to death. Now growth will emerge from the burned area, but this method is imperative. This is why when search for these specific palms I looked for a one gallon container. Impossible to find, mostly because the palms are slow growing and most people wouldn't have the patience to wait for larger landscape specimen to develop. So the MycoApply's ability to prevent transplant shock and stimulate faster than normal growth will be extremely important, not only for these palm's health, but also possibly prove to the industry what can be accomplished for future successes.

=====================================

Some of my recent posts on Mexican and California Fan Palms, this year and last year in 2014.  The first follows the incredible lengths Washingtonia filifera roots will go to in search of water. The second is about the invasive nature of Washingtonia robusta in the coastal canyons around urban areas of San Diego California and the further wildfire spreading threat potential they create

 Getting to the Root of why Natives rule & Exotics struggle or outright fail

"Day of the Triffids" or "Monolith Monsters" ? (Mexican Fan Palm - Washingtonia robusta)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further Important Reading References

Is it safe to plant & water California Natives Plants in Summer ?

Water provides a Hydropatterning Blueprint for Rooting Architecture & "Infrastructure" 

Creating Chaparral Alcoves in your Landscape for personal regeneration & meditation retreats

Using Nature's Mycorrhizal Tool-Kit to compete with Weeds vrs killing them with Glyphosate

Deep Irrigation Methods for Training Deeper Rooting networks

Utilizing Ornamentals of the Legume Family in Southwest Landscapes

IRRIGATION ISSUES: Why Isn't Nature Replicated more often ?

Image - Treehugger

I'm puzzled by the lack of interest STILL when Nature is completely ignored in favour of the modern Scientific Idiocy which continues to exist for no other reasons than modern innovations and techniques make money. It's all about the money, so "follow the money". The problem is the conventional thinking is truly killing our planet and making life on this planet more and more difficult for every living thing. I have to go back to one of my pet peeves when it comes to water use. Coming from the southwest, I'm use to there being a rainy season and a dry season, with perhaps a little monsoonal moisture just to keep things interesting. It wasn't till I came back to the city after 24 years in the mountains above Palm Springs, that I realized how much had changed in the Landscape maintenance department. First off, there were far more pests and diseases to deal with. I was clearly out of touch with what had further developed on Southern California coastal and interior valleys with regards the challenges of landscape and gardening maintenance. Every plant, shrub and/or tree seemed infected with something. I hadn't seen this in the wilds, because frankly, such pest war conditions generally don't exist there as a result of Nature's balance. In Nature when Spring comes around after months of winter rainfall, there is naturally that initial flush of bloom and newer foliage growth. That's not only logical, but to be expected. But by summer most plants in the wild are merely maintaining health and vigor of it's foliage and slow development of it's fruit or seed. Bugs don't attack because plants will manufacture a host of various bitter alkaloids in their saps or resins to make plants distasteful to most insects and other creatures. Often with Spring growth, there is more watery sap which contains less of these bitter flavours and attacks will be at a minimum because the population of past are lower at this time. 

image - rootsimple.com

In the Cities and Farms however it's a more different story. Things are forced when it comes to growth. Watering is quite often at regular daily intervals. Yet that's not what Nature does. In the urban landscape, plants (shrubs or trees) are never encouraged to develop an root infrastructure of deeper roots. Why would they, water on the surface is always readily available in the urban landscape. No need to growth to depth. The problem is when summer comes around and pest insects are more abundant and active, these same succulent growth patterns in both shrubs and trees encourage more and more population explosions of insect pests. Such pests would be at a minimum if the landscape was trained and maintained as Nature does it in the wild. Therefore extra Gardening work is called for as plants grow excessively and block or crowd roadways, sidewalks, structural overhangs etc. Unnecessary growth that would not exist and forced to be dealt with had Nature been replicated. Even diseases like Powdery Mildew (like the squash leaves above) and other blight would be held to a minimum. It's not that such organisms don't exist in the wild, they do. But they are mostly so few that their effects are minuscule and hidden from view. 

(BanksPhotos/iStock)

There is a plethora of supplies for dealing with the consequences of doing the wrong thing when it comes to gardening and landscaping. While chemical fertilizers contribute to the problem, it actually starts with WAAAAAAYY too much watering.

This is where the big money is made by conventional Retail Nurseries and the big business commercial interests which provide them with innumerable products to basically kill things, often in more ways than one. People are so indoctrinated into the historical ignorant conventional ways of doing things, which are often sold as convenient and easy, that they are often NOT open to newer education as to how things really work out in Nature. True, it does take some education and understanding on how things work, which in turn requires a fair amount of investment in one's personal time. but the rewards are worth it. In actuality it is extremely less complicated and far more simple than making continued applications with commercial products which really increase more workload in the garden and commercial urban landscapes. Want to work harder ?, then keep on pursuing the conventional wisdom that brutalizes nature and see what real hard work is really like. Lets get back to irrigation. Last year I wrote about Hunter Industries Deep Pipe Irrigation  products which in actuality do replicate nature. Out in nature, specific dominant plants have deep foundation root system structure through which they employ a process of physics known as hydraulic lift and redistribution. They draw water up from very deep layers of the soil, perhaps even from the water table itself and redistribute this water to all others plants via a mycorrhizal networked grid which interconnects all plants with one another. Not  only is water shared, but also various natural chemical compounds that each differing plant shares with it's neighbours, once again via the fungal web or grid.

A few weeks back I was at  Las Pilitas California Native Plant Nursery  just north of Escondido on old Hwy 395 across from the Champagne Lakes Camp ground and I over heard some customers speaking about watering their Native plants several times a week in summer and often for a couple of hours a day. This is absolutely a waste of money and does NOT benefit the native plants. My Mum's yard is soft very deep sandy loam soil and I haven't had the need to install deep pipe because the roots are deep anyway through proper training. Water period is NEVER done here for most. Growth is kept in check and pruning thus far has been rare. No pest ever have been a problem and feeding is provided for by the mycorrhizal grid  which is feed nothing but clean wood bark mulch which gradually adds nutrients, puts off weeds, shades and cools the root zone and prevents evaporation from the ground. Roots will both hydrate and feed from those deeper roots during summer months. while most people believe surface roots to be the main water and food intake mechanisms, this is also true of deeper roots. And don't forget the mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria which makes these superior deep irrigation methods all possible. I purchased a good size bag of MycoApply fungal spore mix from Horizon Irrigation Supply on engineer Road in San Diego, but you can go to  Mycorrhizal Applications Inc  and find the nearest supplier or distributor close to you. It is a must application no matter who you buy or purchase from.

Image - UC Davis

In the Central Valley of California, irrigation in many orchards is still done the old antiquated way by means of flooding. In the wake of water shortages due to climate change, such methods are old and outdated and have been proven to be the main causes of increases in Insect Pests and fungal diseases as the link to the article below here reveals.

U.C. Davis: "Buried Drip Irrigation Reduces Fungal Disease in Pistachio Orchards"

Abstract:

"Alternaria late blight, a fungal disease affecting both leaves and fruit, can lower the quality of pistachios and reduce grower profit. High humidity in orchards increases the magnitude and severity of the blight infections. One cause of high orchard humidity is the evaporation of water from the soil surface, which in turn is enhanced by irrigation systems that wet the surface. In this study, we tested the use of buried drip irrigation, which reduces orchard floor wetting, to see how well it controlled the disease. When compared with a traditional flood irrigation system, the buried drip system reduced orchard humidity and dew duration and increased temperature. This significantly reduced leaf symptoms of the disease and fruit infection at harvest. Additionally, more shells split open with the buried drip method, resulting in a higher yield of marketable pistachios."

Even if Modern Orchard management employs sprinkler irrigation methods over the older outdated flooding practices, this still provides another consequence of summer weed growth which requires more chemicals like weed killers. Naturally much to the delight of commercial business corporate interests around the globe who profiteer one way or another on chemical sales increased by status quo conventional farming and landscape practices. Summer weeds like Sow Thistle here in Southern California thrive on bad irrigation practices. But don't worry, Monsanto has an answer for that in the expensive brand named product called Roundup. But unfortunately, decades of chemical uses whether fertilizers or pesticides kill many beneficial soil organisms which is what makes plants unhealthy. Just like in human beings, eat junk foods and live an unhealthy lifestyle and any number of physical ailments will take their toll on your body. Plants are no different in this way.

Image - UC Davis

Summer weeds grow according to the wetting pattern conditions of the microirrigation patterns. The  microsprinklers in the foreground encourage more weeds than the subsurface drip in the back. My preferred irrigation for urban landscapes is deep pipe irrigation which puts water into the subsoil where roots if trained properly can have plenty of access to. There is no better places to water to be delivered and stored than in the deeper layers of the soil. Weeds are mostly eliminated and surface/air evaporation is eliminated. water loss is mostly through evapotranspiration which is where it should be.

Image Hunter Industries

Deep Irrigation Methods for Training Deeper Rooting networks

This image above is one that I posted last year which shows just how water can be delivered to the subsoil. Yet in my post, I also showed how it was possible to invent and build your own. This is neither tough to do nor is it rocket science. It truly does replicate what Nature really does in the wild and in keeping itself healthy and balanced.

My Photo

Mum's backyard in El Cajon in prior to Sewer line hookup. Now notice the Navel Orange tree foliage which is very full and healthy and the fact that there is actually fruit in the tree. No surface irrigation was ever used in maintaining this tree and the Meyer Lemon next to it on the right. Fact is, back in the middle 1970s there was an issue with my parent's Septic Tank leach lines. New distribution box and lines were put in and one line ended in between both these trees. Now look at the photo below what happened when this system was changed over. The septic was discontinued and public sewer utility was hooked up. 

Photo Credit - Mine!

This photo is after the City Sewer line hookup was installed. The septic system leach line is no longer functional. Therefore free water is no longer available to be delivered 4 - 5 foot underground between the Navel Orange and Meyer Lemon trees. This photo was taken May 3, 2013. Water is expensive here and my Mother  can't afford sprinkling or flooding the surface, only to have it evaporate and encourage WEEDS. I've cut down some of the weeds and added California Sycamore mulch from the tree trimmings of a couple weeks ago. Surface irrigation is a waste of valuable money and your time and is not necessarily healthy or necessary for the tree, even domestic bred fruit trees. Deep irrigation replicates hydration conditions like those found in the Chaparral plant community and old growth Forested situations.

Above here I find this illustrative of how you can do a Do-It-Yourself home Deep Pipe Irrigation invention which you can easily do yourself and install in what are called swales which are excellent anyways in rainwater catchment. These may be hand watered to fill tube and allow for deep soil percolation, or you may use the system set up by companies like Hunter Industries. Either way, you and your landscape wins!