"Mycorrhizae" is the word for the tangle of tissue that forms when certain soil fungi get together with plant roots.

Mycorrhizal fungi associate with shrubs, herbs, and grasses, and most of the commercially important ornamental and agricultural plants. More than 90 percent of the world's plants form mycorrhizae around or inside the root cells.

• Stimulate plants to produce additional roots,
• Increase the plant's ability to take in water and food by 10 to 1,000 times,
• Help plants resist diseases and pests by suppressing disease-causing pathogens,
• Release chemicals into the soil to unlock hard-to-extract micronutrients like iron and phosphorus,
• Improve soil structure and resiliency by producing organic "glues" that make the soil more clumpy and porous.

Mycorrhizae are everywhere in relatively undisturbed soils. Disturbed soils, like construction sites or heavily compacted logging sites, or sites where trees are growing in lawns treated with chemicals, are the places where the mycorrhizae are depleted, and the plants suffer.

The application of mycorrhizal fungi offers an alternative to using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Mycorrhizal products are available as liquid soil drenches, powders, gels and tablets depending upon the needs of the end user. Inoculation costs less than a penny per seedling.

Adapted with permission from: http://www.mycorrhizae.com/power_of_fungi.html