Mycorrhizal fungi

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by Mirrabooka, Jan 27, 2016.

  1. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Goats eat blackberry to the soil level, porcine roots it up and kills it. :) Meanwhile you fed 2 animals easily!!

    Only plant I know that exhibits a chemical to keep blackberry from growing is C. Sativa. var. Sativa or var. Indica.

    You do NOT want it to go a year or more without eradication. It will take over buildings with ease.
     
  2. Mirrabooka

    Mirrabooka Junior Member

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    Thanks Songbird, for introducing a favorite topic- blackberries!

    I have actually settled into using the brushcutter to attack mountains of the stuff annually, just before the fruit ripens, on my block here on the Mornington Peninsula, especially along the creekline. It is working quite well, as a diversity of plants come in to compete with the blackberry. The reason I use the brushcutter is that I don't have a basketball team of sturdy young men, as David Holmgren does (check out his youtube in which he demonstrates his 'basketball team of sturdy young men armed with blackberry bashing implements' as the approach he prefers to 'noisy machines').

    I loved the IDEA of goats, but goats also eat trees, including the baby trees I am using to revegetate the creek line with. Has anyone actually, in reality, used goats to achieve a result in this kind of project. I certainly understand the use of goats as part of pasture management, if one is managing pasture, but goats, pigs (Holzer's solution to blackberries) or cows for the usual Australian blackberry infestation kind of project, almost always creeklines, no.

    Lets hope research on fungi beneath the soil can achieve something one day like blackberry leaf rust hopefully will achieve above the soil (I have a treatment on order for Autumn). Lets also hope the mycorrhizal spores I'm innoculating my tree seedlings with don't also benefit the remaining nearby blackberry roots (my guess is, as is so often the case in Permaculture, they will....and I will keep the readership posted...)

    Best wishes
    Mirrabooka
     
  3. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    ah, yes, along a stream is somewhat different... am glad you are able to keep at it though.
    we have no blackberries here on our land, but we do have other plants i don't want to
    spread around (honey suckle and pennyroyal). i think we managed to deal with the pennyroyal
    last year (smothering and removing by hand from about a thousand square feet) and i hope
    this coming year i can get some more of the honeysuckle knocked back. i do not have any
    animals or a brush cutter other than loppers, handsaws and a shovel. it isn't impossible,
    just takes dedication. :) or is that brain damage? :)
     
  4. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    The biggest problem with Blackberry is the several ways it propagates; birds eat the berries and spread seeds, canes bend and touch the soil and root, the roots grow new canes the same as a running bamboo. If you cut down canes at the surface, not only will that crown produce new canes but the root system, feeling the threat of die off, will put out new cane crowns in several places to ensure survival. The only way to truly eradicate blackberry is to pull the plant, roots and all, then come back and pull the new canes that will surely come up, if you are diligent in this you can get rid of blackberry in two seasons.

    Mycorrhizal fungi, while good at attaching to roots and providing access to minerals and water don't really do a lot of filtering of plant exudates. To have this you would also need other fungi that are known filterers such as oyster mushroom spawn, as with other things in soil, the more variety you have growing in your soil, the better all plants thrive. Some bacteria establish soil compounds that are then fed upon by fungi, when the organism balance gets out of whack, some of them die out from competition with the successor organisms.

    Keep good records of your experiments please, as songbird mentioned, you might find out something new and wonderful for all to know.

    When we acquired our land it was overrun with blackberry and sumac, we have spent two years removing these from the areas we needed for other things. The rest we left since they are not troublesome for us at this time. The blue birds use the sumac seeds for food so where we can, we left them intact. Sumac is another spreading plant that comes up from roots and from seed germination so to remove it requires pulling roots just like blackberry does.

    Use of goats for plant control requires fencing for plants you don't want browsed. We use T-Posts and 2 x 4 wire zip tied to the posts. Pigs will root up the land, this is great for getting rid of some plant species and rock removal, both animals end up giving the land aeration and fertilizer, just be sure to move them around on a regular basis so they don't create a problem area from to much of a good thing.
     
  5. permasculptor

    permasculptor Junior Member

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    Biota Booster.
     
  6. Mirrabooka

    Mirrabooka Junior Member

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    $35 for a 10 ml bottle?
     
  7. permasculptor

    permasculptor Junior Member

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    That is the retail price But I will do a special price for forum members $25 plus $8 postage for new stock arriving in three weeks or old stock (still good) $20 posted. 10 ml is enough to do half a hectare but you will probably just put it around your trees to stretch it
     
  8. Flatland

    Flatland Member

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    I don't want to meet any fungi that can kill off a blackberry bush!

    Went to an interesting workshop last Saturday. Farmer was telling us how his soil was badly compacted and had no soil life (he had it measured, can't remember the numbers but very low) so he bought worm juice that had been specially brewed to get lots of soil fungi etc. He spread it and very quickly his soil decompacted and the soil life exploded. He had soil tests done again and the numbers of good fungi etc in his soil was huge. He was very happy, his cows are happy and so is his pasture. He was telling us how now he can get a spade into his soil anytime of the year to full depth very easily. He hasn't cultivated the land it is just the buggies doing their work, loosening up his soil. But then he said "Oh course there is one down side to this beautiful friable soil. When it rains, the rain soaks into the soil easily and so there is no run off and my dams don't fill any more.
     
  9. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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