Mycos

[Funk P]

70% carbon / browns & 30% greens these numbers can kinda fluctuate. Grass clippings are always an easy way to introduce greens to the compost as they are easily accessible. You've got to be careful on how much you add because you can heat the pile up too much & kill off the microbes/dormancy... 55-65 Celsius is a good range also grass tends to matt quite firmly and create anaroebic conditions so get it mixed in there.

 

You can't go wrong with straw, leaf clippings, grass clippings, veg scraps, hay, shredded cardboard, manure etc with turning until temps start to gradually fall off.

 

If you can find beds locally with woodchip and some leaves that rest on top you'll find mycorrhiza somewhere which would be great to inoculate your compost with.

 

Good shit on YouTube about this, I definently need to start focusing on making better compost.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Funk P

[blackpoolbouncer]

9 hours ago, Funk P said:

you can find beds locally with woodchip and some leaves that rest on top you'll find mycorrhiza somewhere which would be great to inoculate your compost with.

Thats just fungi hyphae mate. Not mycoryizal. 

Mycos are everywhere in nature. If the soil isn't polluted then the native plants will be loaded up with naturalised native mycos anyway.

 

[Funk P]

@blackpoolbouncerI'm far from an expert on fungi so forgive me, what do you mean mycos are everywhere are you referring to spores and what do you mean plants will be loaded up with mycos? 

 

From what I know all plants that haven't been disturbed in any way dont necessarily mean they have an abundant relationship with fungi, quality of soil environment, species (brassicas don’t have the best relationships) etc plays an important role.

 

Mycorrhiza, which means “fungus-root,” is defined as a beneficial, or symbiotic relationship between a fungus and the roots of its host plant. This relationship is a natural infection of a plant’s root system in which the plant supplies the fungus with sugars and carbon and receives water and/or nutrients in return. This type of relationship has been around since plants began growing on land about 400 to 500 million years ago. There are several thousand different species of mycorrhiza fungi.

 

Mycorrhizae are classified into two types, based on the location of the fungal hyphae in relation to the root tissues of the plant with endomycorrhiza producing hyphae inside the roots and ectomycorrhiza-producing hyphae outside the roots.

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When looking through samples on the scope I and most people I look up to are mainly looking for the fungal hyphae which is also called mycorrhiza. They don't really base a good fungal relationship based on spores. What I have always known to be the case and have seen consistently and seems to be the industry standard is that if you're looking for a good healthy fungal relationship you look for fungal hyphae through the scope.

 

I inoculate my piles and never have a problem with colonisation. As far as I am aware this is how most people inoculate their beds or compost, not to many people go out and buy spore syringes for inoculation unless their looking to grow a specific mushroom, not saying this isn’t a good way to inoculate by the way.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Funk P

[blackpoolbouncer]

You can't see mycorhizal fungi with the naked eye. They are symbiotic with the plant but you a re right yes you look for them with a microscope.

If you see thick white stranded hyphae eating wood then what you have there is a saprophytic primary decomposing fungi. A wood loving species If they are feeding in woodchip. 

 

Different fungi. Different job. Same habitat.

 

If you want native mycos for free then dig up some plants especially grasses with long roots from healthy undisturbed land. Chop the roots and add then to you hole as a natural innoculant.

 

When I say mycos are everywhere they are. It would be far harder to grow a plant outdoors and it not make at least some mycorhizal connection with the already there dormant and living fungi. 

 

If plants grow there then there's already an abundance of mycos. It's unescapable.

 

If you check out the thread in mycos I put up a link on how I create my own native myco innoculant on a field scale But in reality if the soil isn't completely fucked and already has plants growing in it adding mycos is a bit pointless.

 

Adding shop bought mycos are for adding to media devoid of natural mycos and plant life. Like compost out of a bag......even then. If you've been growing in it a while the fungi will get in. 

 

Natures incredible man

[Funk P]

@blackpoolbouncer I've always thought and heard you can see mycorrhizal fungi.

 

Could you refer me to some literature referring to 'mycos' because I have never heard the term and never heard microbiologists use it but they aren't mycologists so it's not a shock. 

 

With this being said there is definently a benefit in introducing myccorhizal fungi to compost. What's a myco? & Why wouldn't you find myco's in a mycorrhizal dominant substrate?

Edited March 2, 2022 by Funk P

[blackpoolbouncer]

Mycos is just me saving having to type out mycorrhizal fungi each time.

It's a commonly used abbreviation.

 

You can't see mycorhizae with the naked eye. You need a microscope and you look at the plants roots not the soil. 

 

 

Saprophytic fungi gain carbohydrates by decomposition of litter. Mycorrhizal fungi have a mutualistic symbiotic relationship by which they exchange things like phosphorous and nitrogen for carbohydrates produced by the host plant.

 

Whilst mycorrhizal fungi are saprophytic in that they decompose decaying matter through biological processes I'd generalise saprophytes as a fungi independent of a host plant......as in what you saw in woodchip. Which is why I called them saprophytic fungi and not mycos. Because they wont be both if they are feeding on woodchip and visible.

 

 

 

 

[Dodgee]

@blackpoolbouncer 

 

I think that worked 

[Funk P]

Missed a comment from both I think but don't quote me on it, thank you though your a sound bloke @Dodgee 

 

My view on compost: 

 

Building saprophytic population up in compost can only help in decomposition surely (I will read some literature on this though to make sure). What I do know is that soil microbiologists do it a lot but also spray compost teas to build microbial populations, the addition of tiger worms which also help in decomposition as well as inoculate and build populations of microbes too, IMO (never tried though when it comes to compost), bokashi for actinomycetes (for me anyways) & worm extracts. So why wouldnt you add more saprophytic fungi to the equation as well? Considering the fact that turning hinders fungi activity hence why no till is becoming quite popular and the same with the Johnson su method which was specifically invented to not get turned in order to build a very fungal dominant compost.

 

Biologically rich compost is used as an inoculant for your beds or extracts and has been made from a variety of inoculants so wouldn't you do the same and inoculate your compost with beneficial materials, rhizobial inoculations In your veg beds introduce rhizobium bacteria which aids in nitrogen fixation etc and is an inoculant in a way so after the initial faze of composting which is bacteria dominated then the latter phase which is where the fungal element comes in to break down 'harder' materials wouldn't you want to inoculate the compost with saprophytic fungi or potentially spray spores which might be another option?

 

I just feel and have seen that just adding carbons and greens isn't enough to build a top notch biologically rich compost (I don't think you actually have this view to be honest) and this is why good compost gets inoculated with various inputs and fungi have an important role to play in organic matter breakdown so surely building those populations up just like you try build up the bacteria populations and other microbial populations is a good thing.

 

I do believe I said on one of the posts that I know about the relationships mycorrhiza and saprophytic fungi have with the soil and also mycorrhiza relationships with the plant but I was not aware of the role that sparophytic fungi play when it comes to plant relations so thank you @blackpoolbouncer

Edited March 2, 2022 by Funk P