I was thinking what to rant on about on a cold early March Tuesday morning, Mycorrhizal fungi sprang to mind! This morning our team had an educational talk from Mark who works for Rootgrow. Rootgrow are one of the largest producers of mycorrhizal fungi, they pop it in a packet for us to sell. A natural organic product that loves to help plants grow, in return the plant helps the fungi grow, what a fantastic symbiosis developed over the several 100’s of millions of years.
The fungi come as a granule, when placed directly under a plant root system quickly develop and attach themselves to the plant root, next they start looking for nutrients in the soil. The plant gives the fungi carbon and sugars that they cant process from the soil.
A lot of the compost our plants are grown in at the Garden centre does not have mycorrizal fungi in it. When you plant your plants in the garden it may take a couple of years for fungi to populate your plant roots.By adding some when planting out plants it is immediately there for the plant to use, aiding growth, production, drought resistance, health, disease tolerance. A great product.
In my early days planting trees and shrubs in Milton Keynes this product was not available (unfortunately). Holly (Ilex aquifolium) was a particularly difficult plant to establish, we would usually get losses of over 50%. I planted 100 Ilex at home 3 or 4 years ago using Rootgrow, I had 100% plant establishment, great stuff.
Our plant area is quickly filling with wonderful new plants. On monday we start building our new outdoor covered plant area which should be completed within 5 weeks!
Within the next 4 weeks we will have an Aquatics and Reptile company opening in the Courtyard and My Little Vintage will be opening where Most Marvellous used to be. We are really looking forward to these 2 new well run local business’s to joining us at Bell Plantation.
Great time for planting early tomatoes, cucumbers in a propagator. If in doubt ask one of our plant team.
Have a good weekend
Ashley
Ashley Warren
Ashley Warren has lived and loved horticulture and agriculture all his life; he had his first greenhouse at the age of 10 and his first cow when he was 16. He started landscaping in 1984 mainly in Milton Keynes and then all over the country. He moved to Daventry Road Farmhouse in 1987 and has developed Bell Plantation Garden Centre in Towcester, Northants over the last 30 years.
