Friendly Fungi working well

Mycorrhizal fungi at work

Back in May when we planted the vines we decided to dip the roots in a product called Rootgrow, which is a mycorrihzal fungi from a company called PlantWorks. Mycorrhizal fungi normally occurs naturally in soil. It breaks down organic matter releasing nutrients particularly phosphates and can significantly increase root capacity. Unfortunately herbicides and modern farming techniques have significantly reduced the naturally occuring fungi. The idea with Rootgrow is to give new plant roots a kick start.

Last Saturday we pruned the vines and measured the weight of the prunings of 100 vines that had been treated compared to 100 untreated vines for each variety. The results were as follows:

                          Untreated      Treated        % Increase
                          weight (kg)   weight (kg)

Pinot Meunier        1.5                1.8               20.0%
Pinot Noir              2.5                2.4               -4.0%
Chardonnay           1.6                1.9               18.8%
Total                     5.6                6.1                 8.9%

It's early days and the test is obviously not very accurate. I have no idea why the Pinot Noir didn’t seem to show any real difference but overall a very positive indication that the friendly fungi are doing a good job! We will do the same test next year and also monitor the quantity of fruit produced in 2011.

Friendly Fungi

I spent an interesting morning at a company called PlantWorks that makes a mycorrhizal fungi product called rootgrow.

Nearly all plants depend on a group of fungi on their roots which can increase root capacity over 700 times. Unfortunately herbicides and other modern farming techniques have significantly reduced the fungi which, when present, break down organic matter releasing nutrients (particularly phosphates) for the plants. The idea is that vine roots can be dipped in rootgrow before planting to give the natural mycorrhizal fungi process a kick start. This should help establish the vines more quickly and increase the eventual yield.

Looks like we will run a trial on the vines being planted in May. Time will tell what difference it will make but the product looks promising.

For more information visit http://www.friendlyfungi.co.uk/