Richard

Some folks might find this document of interest:
Guide To Fertilizer Dosages

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Snookie

Whewwwwww Doggie

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I read all of the post about fertilizer and now I have a hell of a headache lol

Looks like I'll stick with rabbit poop to fertilize with till I get a feel for growing nana's

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Kostas

I have watered in a granular Mycorrhizae product on many of my plants without digging holes or doing anything special and i did see extensive colonization in some areas of the garden and crazy growth compared to the uncolonized area just next to the colonized one. So i think that your sprinkler application may have worked bananafarmer,especially as some of the banana roots are very shallow and the spores can be carried there by water. Bananas do have symbiotic relations with mycorrhizae so there does is a benefit from using them. A more efficient way for applying the mycorrhizae in your mature plantation would be to dig a little hole down to the corm of the new pup you are going to leave grow and bear fruit,add a little mycorrhizae there touching the corm and cover the hole again. The new roots that will grow from the corm of that pup,will be colonized and the colonization of the whole mat will follow in the next months.
The Mycorrhizae spores can live a long time in the soil so they can even wait till a root reaches them or till they get washed lower in the soil and find a root. When they find a root,they germinate and begin colonizing the whole root system of the plant. As long as they are happy and no fungicides are used(unfortunately chemical fertilizers also negatively affect them),they never need to be reapplied and bananas grow faster,bigger and remain healthier with them.

As for humic acid,it helps a lot in chelating the minerals found in the soil and in the fertilizers you add and thus not let them get washed away and retain them in a form that is usable to the plants. The use of humic acid certainly mediates somewhat the negative effects in soil life of using chemical fertilizers and improves the soil

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Richard

At equal doses, chemical and organic fertilizers kill Mycorrhizae equally well.

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Richard

That's very true, although they are in the covalent form. Just putting them in the soil will not get them into the ionic form that plants require, nor will they break down in a time frame that is relevant to you or the plant. You'll need to either dissolve them in a high-molar acid or utilize plasma chemistry -- neither of which are worth the expense.

On the other hand, having small gravels and gravel dust in a soil mix can be a good thing in terms of physical and catalytic properties. Most of my soil mixes are anywhere from 1/8 to 1/5 parts "3/32 minus" gravel and dust from the local quarry. The amount in each mix depends on the plant type.

For micronutrients, I either use a complete fertilizer or in the case of some plants, a water-soluble mix chelated in wood sugars.

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