I usually buy Pro-Mix with mycorrhyzae plus biofungicide added. It's the green and orange bale. Tim Eck > -----Original Message----- > From: pbs [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Travis O > Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2016 7:09 PM > To: Pacific Bulb Society > Subject: [pbs] Inoculating bulbs? > > Hi, > > I've been reading 'Teaming with Microbes' by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne > Lewis (Timber Press 2010) and it has got my imagination going. Most > gardeners are familiar with or have at least heard of the ability of leguminous > plants to "fix" nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form plants can use, a > result of a fungal symbiosis. The book describes in detail the complex > microscopic ecosystems that inhabit healthy soil and interact, in many cases > symbiotically and beneficially, with (according to the book) 90% of all plants > on Earth. > > Now it seems that the common practice amongst this group, and many other > specialized plant groups, is to use completely sterilized soil (or "medium"). > Could there be a benefit to inoculating our bulb seed, or perhaps the > dormant bulbs themselves, as one may do with food crops? > > To me, it seems entirely reasonable to assume that many wild bulb > populations have some sort of positive relationship to the microfauna in the > soil they share. Keeping with this line of reasoning, I wonder if some of the > "difficult" bulbous species out there, unknown in cultivation, may only need > the correct fungal association (or bacterial, or whatever) to survive in > cultivation? Or could using beneficial bacteria/fungi to inoculate our current > bulbs improve their vigor, or other unforeseen benefits? > > Is there any research out there on this? > > Travis Owen > Rogue River, OR > > http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/ > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/