mycorrhizal fungus experiments

[Vortex]

Yes, use your used motor oil in the garden ..

I'm serious, doing a used oil experiment now.

The mycorrhizal experiments. Source "MycoGrow™ For Lawns"
The stuff grows really good in wet coffee grounds.

I took bone dry coffee grounds, about 13 oz in a 14.5 oz green bean can,
and added BLACK used motor oil, about one inch deep in the can, on the coffee grounds.
That was on 4/13/09 and today I see fungus growing. NO WATER was in this can of coffee grounds.

I was thinking yesterday I needed to add water, but I was going to give it one
more day because it looked like something was growing.
I add 1/2 table spoon of water today, everything needs water and I was putting this to the extreme test in not using any.

I will add pictures later after the oil sample has grown more.
This stuff grows fast and you could start a new batch every 3 days easy from
the previous batch and never run out ..
Like in the old days with fire.. you always keep a fire burning.

I will create a wet "charcoal only" experiment today ...
I need to start these experiments in glass jars so I can monitor the progress
as it travels down to the bottom of the container to determine how long
it takes to have a totally full container of fungus.

[sucahyo]

Good luck .

Here is the fungus applying method from Indonesian website:
- Applied when the plant start growing roots
- It must have direct contact to the plant young root

I don't know if this available but you can try using other fungus too like:
Azotobacter, Azospirilium, Rhizobium, Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, dan Saccarimyzes.

In here it sold here:
PT Sugih Cipta Santosa : Home

This site mention that the use of continuous chemical artificial fertilizer proove to be detrimental to the land and force farmer to get less profit because more money is needed for chemical artificial fertilizer. I think this kind of product should be replicable. Unfortunately I can't find website in English language.

I think we just need to know the code:

BIOSUGIH® dibuat dari 100% bahan organik, sehingga mengandung 17 asam amino, unsur seperti N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, B, Fe, Mo, Co, I, Cu, Cr, dan S. BIOSUGIH® juga mengandung zat pengatur tumbuh (ZPT) sepertin Gibbrellin, Zeatin dan IAA dan mikroba positif seperti Azobacter, Azospirilium, Rhizobium, Mychoriza, Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, dan Saccarimyzes.

[Vortex]

Good luck .

This site mention that the use of continuous chemical artificial fertilizer proove to be detrimental to the land and force farmer to get less profit because more money is needed for chemical artificial fertilizer. I think this kind of product should be replicable. Unfortunately I can't find website in English language.

I think we just need to know the code:

BIOSUGIH® dibuat dari 100% bahan organik, sehingga mengandung 17 asam amino, unsur seperti N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, B, Fe, Mo, Co, I, Cu, Cr, dan S. BIOSUGIH® juga mengandung zat pengatur tumbuh (ZPT) sepertin Gibbrellin, Zeatin dan IAA dan mikroba positif seperti Azobacter, Azospirilium, Rhizobium, Mychoriza, Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, dan Saccarimyzes.

Does this translated quote look about right to you?

Translated quote:
BIOSUGIH ® is made from 100% organic, so it contains 17 amino acids, elements such as N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, B, Fe, Mo, Co, I, Cu, Cr, and S. BIOSUGIH ® also contains the substance to grow (ZPT) sepertin Gibbrellin, Zeatin and IAA and positive microbes such as Azobacter, Azospirilium, Rhizobium, Mychoriza, Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, and Saccarimyzes.

Google Translator Google Translate it will do entire web pages / sites too.

PT Sugih Cipta Santosa : Home Web site translation

[sucahyo]

Does this translated quote look about right to you?

Not too bad, but sometimes can give different meaning.

BIOSUGIH ® is made from 100% organic, it contains 17 amino acids, elements such as N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, B, Fe, Mo, Co, I, Cu, Cr, and S. BIOSUGIH ® also contains substance for growing (ZPT) like Gibbrellin, Zeatin and IAA and positive microbes such as Azotobacter, Azospirilium, Rhizobium, Mychoriza, Aspergillus, Lactobacillus, and Saccarimyzes.

[Vortex]

Images


The image does not show the detail one could see with the eye.
The left can is full of fibers.. the right can has just begun to
take off and does not have the long fibers yet as see in the left can.

This motor oil test had a slower start and slower placed growth than the wet coffee grounds.
I will try a wet coffee grounds with motor oil to determine if it
was a water related issue slowing the growth.

I will give the first can about 7 more days before I dump out the contents
and see how much coverage and thickness of the the fungus has occurred in the coffee grounds.

I will begin testing the continuous growing of new batches using the previous
fungus growths as a starter source.

I realized my mistake in using metal cans for observation of coverage,
new tests will be done using clear plastic containers like water bottles.

I would like to know how to take a fungus growth and preserve it in a dry form.
The tiny pellets I have purchased and am currently using as the fungus
source for my tests can be diluted in water and sprayed upon a surface like
cardboard and allowed to dry. This cardboard could be a shipping box.

That still does not get from a grown test batch to the dry state for storage.

I don't know if the mycorrhizal fungus I have has visible fruiting mushrooms from which spores could be taken.

Cans are covered with plastic wrap with rubber bands to contain moisture.

[sucahyo]

Maybe we can compressed it for storing?

I just talk to my brother in law who used to work as farm field tutor, he said mychorizae only need to be applied once in a plant lifetime. It can also help plant grow in desert or other hard to grow area.

I look forward for more result .

[Vortex]

Update.

I tried plastic bottles instead of used food cans, plastic wrap and rubber bands.
The bottles had caps screwed on.
NOTHING HAPPENED for a week, no fungus
Built up gases in the capped bottles prevented the fungus from growing
(I'm guessing)

Uncapped the bottles and left the caps off and one day later, poof,
the fungus started growing.
Covered but not sealed containers!!

I tried a new mix:
1 hand full of brown dried out tree seeds, wet coffee grounds, 1/2 hand full of mostly eaten bird seed shells, 5-6 ashed (burnt) and non-ash cat turds.
Next day lots of fungus.
This is the fastest starting growth I've seen yet.
I can't say for sure what the source of the fungus is.
If you take bird seed and place it upon a wet paper towel it will grow fungus
as well as sprout the seeds.
The minerals, as sucahyo has told us about from slag, which are bad for plants. These minerals are also used in pet food.
I see that "slag" left over when I burn the cat turds into ash. Perfect cat turds made of ash or slag is left over. If you burn wood almost NOTHING is
left over.. burning cat turds the volume is not reduced.. the shape remains.

The seeds were added to promote exchange between plant/fungus is the
thinking ..
Fungus breaks down all, dead plants, rocks, etc into soil or into that which
can be fed to the plants, so I was thinking the fungus might break up
the cat turds into useful minerals ..

[theremart]

Doing some experimenting as well.

I have been reading up on the different types of how to get the fungus. I bought some myco grow. And thought instead of applying it as they called for ( to the plant roots before planting ) I would first take some and put with the coffee grounds I have then build up a good culture. Then after a rain at night take the coffee that is very well cultured and then dump it into holes around my plants ( my bamboo is top on the list )

I believe that this should do what I want with far less cost as I can use just an 1/8 of a teaspoon to get the culture going in the coffee grounds then apply this to the soil.

The questions that come to mind is, will only some of the fungus grow on the coffee grounds, and perhaps there might be better medium to do this will per say a loaf of bread?

In my book on organic gardening they suggest ground up oatmeal for feeding fungus for compost tea.

As of now I have a 5 gallon bucket half way full of coffee grounds and a piece of bread on top with some old sweat peas on top for a test run. I had it just with coffee grounds, and was working well, then I decided to add the bread and old sweet peas.

I believe it would grow faster if the coffee grounds was spread out thinner like on a cookie sheet, the air seems to be a factor in the growth of the fungi.