Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

well i have finally made it into first year vet and in biology We are learnig about all sorts of stuff and this topic of symbiotic relationships between plants and fungus comes up.

Mycorrhiza

Basically it is a type of fungi that has a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, it takes from the plant but gives a lot more back. It can also be present and absent from the soil around plants. It can serve to increase the theoretical size of the root ball by 10X.

I have thought about it and this I believe could be the reason why aquaponics is so much better than hydroponics in a seasoned system. The full biodiversity encouraged in aquaponics is likely to encorouge the growth of this fungus in the gravel and around the root systems and improve growth. It just takes time to colonize and grow. YOu do not get this growth and biodiversity in hydroponics which can be cleaned after crops are finished as well as using cleaning and antifungals in hydroponics.

any way just an idea to discuss,

NIck

Here is the wikipedia page to start from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza

Could be. We know that AP systems just get better with time. Nice article.

I know these fungi are beneficial to the plants, but I don't see how they can be the cause of better growth in an AP system. Would F&D not wash off these fungi (or at least the ectomycorrhizal ones)?

And how could the fungi get into the system, when you usually grow AP veggies from seeds?



Could this also mean it's better to sow seeds in rich soil first, before putting the plants in an AP system? Or at least the first time, to introduce Mycorrhiza to the system?

Fungi spores, like bacteria, are everywhere. I suspect in time, our AP systems would get colonized by something that blew in on the wind, or came in on our hands after we were weeding the dirt garden, for example. As far as fungi getting washed off, when I dig into the gravel bed, the stones are coated with a thin layer of decomposed poo. If that is staying there, I suspect the fungi would find a nice home and stay, too.

Perhaps it would be good to add a nice scoop of rich soil when you start off a growbed. That way you could get a jump on establishing the fungus. It starts sounding like a Witch's Brew:

By the Waxing Moon, dance in a circle and wash the gravel. Put the gravel in the growbed with Filter sludge from the aquarium, a shovelful of rich garden dirt from the garden, and a double handful of compost worms from the bin. Don't forget to add the hair of frog and eye of newt.

hi nick,

i think you may be onto something there. i have a feeling that mycorrhiza will colonise in ap growbeds. i have inoculated my beds and worm farms with spores i found at b. i cant say if it made a difference to my growbeds but i'm getting a lot of plant growth from very low stocking density. it would be interesting to do a side by side test of 2 fully cycled systems, one inoculated one not. i did notice a differnce in plant growth in soil when using mycorrhiza rich worm castings. i also noticed a speeding up of the amount of time needed to produce properly finished castings. it seems the mycorrhiza brakes down waste making it more available to worms. if this is the case then mycorrhiza potentially has a role in the break down of dead roots in grow beds. bacteria and worms will take care of the rest. fungal issues should be less prevalent then.

i'de be interested to hear others thoughts on this one.

interesting topic nick. keep the ideas coming.

i would be concerned about introducing nasties into the bed. one of the benefits of ap is that earthbound diseases, pathogens ect can be somewhat restricted. i guess its like the old debate of whether to add river water to a system. some feel that a balanced system can digest most of the nasties and diversify the goodies, where as others are dead against the idea and follow strict quarantine. the cycle is much more advanced the science would have most believe. imo ap is like a black hole in science. i feel the process may never be fully understood. time will tell.

Funny you should mention that, my favorite band Omnia just made the song "Wytches Brew" from their upcoming album downloadable, and It's been in my head all day. (It's an adaptation of Macbeth Act IV scene I, the band's Neo-celtic pagan hippie-ish, and they use instruments like the hurdygurdy, didgeridoo, bodrhan, lots of flutes etc.)

Anyways, so rich soil would speed up the fungi, but (eventually) they would have found their way into the AP system anyway.
So what about the pathogens and other nasties that bio-farmer mentioned; if the 'good' fungi can find their way into an AP system, why wouldn't the nasties, too? I don't think that speeding up a system at the start by adding a bunch of garden soil would be harmful..

i notice a increase in growth when i put 2 hand fulls of beach sand in my system.