Inoculation of Beneficial Fungi on Orchids
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- In this video, I explain how mycorrhizae or beneficial root-associated fungi interact with orchids to colonize the roots, and enhance orchid seedling growth. I show how I inoculate both seedlings and some of my mature orchid plants.
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That’s awesome! I might have to invest in this for my small to medium seedlings! Keep us posted on the results. Maybe the next batch of seedlings can have test vs control to see the difference?
So happy you have adopted these practices after getting my suggestions with your flasked plants. I have used myco products in general landscape use , especially when transplanting large trees and palms . Those products were manufactured for landscape use for hard to establish terrestrial plants . With that said the run off from your orchids will also benefit anything in the ground and if you monitor those trees and plants will also see a benefit. It should be a mainstay of all orchid growing out of flask … I am a poster boy for myco treatments as you know from watching your punctatum babies sent to me . I wouldn’t worry about foliage being treated , it will wash off and only give the plants an additional shot
Thanks - it seems to be working well for me. Do not be offended but you had quite a few suggestions and this was the one that stood out from the rest as something that would be most useful and made the most sense. I do wish that someone made an orchid specific mix - maybe a variety of orchid isolates.
People have suggested that I isolate my own strains and the companies that make these products have suggested that I provide those strains to them so that they can evaluate and market them. Even the species that are common can be divided into different strains and there are quite a few species that people use so this is not very well defined. I think that the main benefit may be activation of the plant defense response rather than an increase of water or nutrient absorption. But, I do not know - it just seems to work for my seedlings. So - thanks again!!
Very good video , I olmos lost my babies Laelias from the flask I ordered the same product because I sow your video before got the name and ordered from Amazon.
I lost about 6 tiny babies do the fungus as soon I spray it the product star to work it was like a miracle, I’m not an experienced with orchids very new in this hobby but I’m learning a lot true your videos and other experience orchids growers but in your Chanel this was very good for me first time to see it in the previous video if not I will lose the money I put in that flask .
I’m using the same for my bigger plants with this rain I think it will help a lot.
Thank You!
I am glad that you enjoyed this video - this is not my area of expertise and I hope that it works for more people. At least, it cannot hurt!!...
I used then this past late winter ,spring and early summer. Definitely helps root branching. I used a little each time I watered.
I think that you can use them once and call your plant inoculated for a while - at least, until you treat the plants with fungicides. These fungi do help the plant but they also take something away - symbiotic for sure!
I have started using Piriplasmapora indica on my seedlings and grown up orchids for a month. I grow the fungi in the lab. There are a good number of publications on beneficial effects on TC plants hardening. Among orchids they have tried it on Dens Cats and oncidiums. Shall share my results in a couple of months after doing a systematic study with the right controls.
I believe that Piriformospora indica has been in use for a number of years, with different plants including orchids. I think there are are quite a diversity of mycorrhizae fungi that are useful - ideally, a mix of the different fungi and bacteria for orchids would be useful for the orchid community.
Sorry for getting the genus name wrong. Thanks for your reply . Would it be ok to mix P indica with consortiam of other fungi and bacteria to do a systematic study? Wouldn't these microbes compete among themselves ? Should we keep the medium moist for these microbes to colonise or wet and dry cycle would also be fine !.
@@mgpurushothama1991 I think that it would be best to keep things simple - just try this organism to start and maybe mix with 1 other and try that separately too - that would address your question - when you start mixing a lot of things, it gets really complicated. I am sorry but I do not know about watering cycles - I would standardize that to however you already are growing your plants.
I have been sprinkling the dry powder on to the top of the pots. Will give your wet method a try. I am planning to mix the dry powder with my mix I use for Catasetums this year. I think that this group would benefit from being inoculated as they are more saprophytic in nature, particularly the Mormodes group.
I inoculated Catasetums during this video for the first time. They usually do well for me - let's see if the flowers are different this year?...
@@plantpropagator I use Dr. Greenthumbs Mycorrhizal Inoculant here in Australia. Contains a min of 240000 props/gram of 4 mycorrhizae fungus types. I have only started using it in the last few months so hard to say if it is working or not. I guess once the warmer weather kicks in we will see the results.
@@garyknight3019 I cannot access that here. They do provide a wet application approach that seems similar to mine (but I just came up with my method on my own). Theirs' seems to be much more concentrated and has one less fungus, which is all OK or even better. Let me know how it works for you - maybe you can convince them to develop an orchid product??
@@plantpropagator i hadn’t thought of doing the wet method,until I saw your video. I like the idea and ordered a couple of wash bottles off eBay yesterday. I am using a rooting hormone on my seedlings as I am deflasking as well and so far it seems to be getting the young plants to form good root systems. I have been told by other growers not to over do it as the plants end up being all roots and limited flowers. I have limited the application to once a year. At deflasking and after repotting and that is working for me.
@@garyknight3019 Thanks for your reply. I am very cautious about using growth regulators for root induction in orchids. The classical concept is that auxins induce root formation but inhibit root growth. I do not think that low levels give more root growth - they lead to the induction of root initials. I use rooting powder on cuttings of many of my garden plants but not orchids.
I just did a quick search of the scientific literature and there are no good reports that this works in orchids - it may be a carryover from the dicot gardening literature, where it works well. But, who knows??
This is the video I've been waiting for! I have really great expectations for the success of your "mycotrials"! And I'd like to point out that there are even some bacteria which can work as beneficial endophytes, too. Maybe those could be an inoculant option for plants that are going through fungal treatment, hypothetically, if the treatment could be specific enough and not affect the bacteria! Now, my question is about germination of seed. I have tried a few times to do germination the old way, ex vitro, with very little success. Other than with catasetum, no real success at all... But I did have seeds which germinated and didn't grow past the protocorm or very first tiny leaf stage. That has puzzled me quite a bit. Whenever I used branches of my ficus tree as a substrate for the seeds, I would get some germination, usually quite a few tens of germinated seed. Not with any other kind of wood or medium, only the ficus. So I'm wondering what is going on: Is the ficus bark "sweet" enough to provide sugar for the seeds to germinate, but not enough for later growth? Is it possible my ficus bark is full of a fungus that can only help germinate but not help protocorms grow into little plants? I have pictures of these trials and I may make a video showing them, too. Finally, you must have heard of smashing young root tips of adult plants to make a possible inoculum for ex vitro sowing (or even as a source to try and isolate the mycorrhizal fungus...) Have you ever tried that?
Lots of questions - great! I know that there are a LOT of different beneficials. And beneficials can be bacteria and/or fungi. They differ based on location, orchid type and even age of the orchid. It gets very complicated because of all of these variables so it could be the ficus bark has something that is useful to the seeds OR the fungus that is needed for germination. My background is plant physiology and not pathology or microbiology so this is not my field. But, many of my plant biotechnology colleagues study plant/pest interactions. This is an amazing area but it was not my area and it is a crowded field so I did not get too involved in it.
Many orchid people think that these beneficial microbes are like fertilizer and you need to add them every week or month. They colonize and interact with the roots - they are not washed away by rain but may be affected by environment and stage of the growth of the plant. From what I have read, the fungus may not be focused at the root tip. I have never isolated mycorrhizae from orchids and there are procedures available for this but I would rather focus on other things.....
@@plantpropagator Thank you! 🙏👍
I have posted here sometime ago a comment about crushing orchid roots to get micorhyza, which I read in a brazilian magazine back in 1995, written by Waldir Foch Endezfeld, its editor. It does not need to be the tips, the roots just need to be alive. I used long vanda roots to save my catt's roots in order to get the germination
As actsnfacts pointed out, I get the seeds to germinate very easily, but then, I think I mess it all with too much watering
From my lay hobbyist experience, high humidity level is very important, but no damp substrate. A closed plastic container will control humidity well. But I believe light is a very important factor
I used brazilian tree fern as substrate. Also heard that some net like palm tree parts that comes down with their leaves are an excellent substrate for the germination "old style". Wish I could post a picture here
About using woods as a germination substrate, catasetum alliance seeds seems to go well in any kind of wood. Epidendrum's seeds the same, they germinate very easily. But I have heard that there are some woods that are not "orchid friendly" even for mounts, some say it is their level of tanin that is the problem, the more tanin, the worse
And when you look at orchid seedlings in their natural habitat, they are always germinating/growing in some moss. Even in the tree trunks or branches, whenever there are seedlings, there will be some kind of moss associated with it. Maybe the moss is good to retain humidity and/or micorhyza, or it is just a place to physically hold the seeds, in order not to be carryed out by rain, but they are always there
Thanks for the video!
@@PL_Brazil Thanks for your input! I tried living moss as a potting medium for deflasking seedlings, and it was utter disaster! I thought just like you did: Maybe the moss could be harboring some beneficial fungi, since it is ubiquitous in the wild. But, even though it seemed to be working very well at first, soon the moss began to colonize the velamen tissue on the little roots, suffocating them and stopping new root growth. Most of them died. The few and strongest ones that I could save by changing their media have never recovered, are still struggling and have not put new roots out since. It may be the species of moss I used, or something. Who knows. But I've been happier deflasking onto plain, bare crushed granite stone ever since!
@@PL_Brazil Thanks for the comments - I think that the moss is more is an indicator of the proper amount of moisture, rather than containing the right beneficial microbes. I always tell people to mount orchids in trees where there is either moss or lichens growing as that indicates good moisture.
I also think that, in addition to moisture and the proper mycorrhizae, you also need to have the right terrain - something that the orchid protocorms can hold onto. Protocorms produce rhizoids which are like root hairs but may act by holding the protocorm in place. Some protocorms stick to each other while others are easy to get apart. Maybe, the sticky ones will do better in nature? Even the simple things are complicated....
I am growing my first Catasetum seeds in flasks now - they are slow and different from the others that I have grown.
Is there a way to look at root cross sections under magnification to determine the presence of fungi?
That is a good question - yes, if you are set up properly, you can see the fungi. I do have some background in microscopy but fungal hyphae are thin and colorless and difficult to see in cross section. So, you have to treat the tissue and then use the proper stains, which will preferentially mark the hyphae. I have not done this myself and do not know how involved this is or how easy they are to see when they are stained. The images in publications are pretty clear but they usually pick the best ones to present....
Great but sad as not available in France.
I received a comment from Australia and they use a product there that is not available in the USA. I have heard suggestions of grinding up some roots from mature orchids and using those to inoculate plants - but, I hope that those mature plants do not have any pathogenic fungi..... Not my recommendation!
@@plantpropagator
Thanks.
would the chlorine and chloramines in tap water kill mycorrhizae
I do not think so - the levels in tap water are too low. Pool. water may be another issue. I do know people who use RO or distilled water on their orchids. I think that they may be missing out on some of the minors when they do this....