Trichoderma (& treatment of Botrytis galanthina)

[Alan_b]

Can anybody comment about this product, "Rootgrow"? http://www.rootgrow.co.uk/rootgrow_information.php  I presume this is not the same thing as Trichoderma but could you use both?

[Maggi Young]

Nothing I have seen about "Rootgrow" states any specific ingredient, though it does claim to have  "all UK origin species of fungi that are proven to benefit plants under UK soil conditions and climate."

My presumption is that one would use  either the Trichoderma product, or the Rootgrow, using both would be unnecessarily duplicating a treatment.
I have emailed "Rootgrow" to ask a few questions so I'll report back when I hear.

[Great Moravian]

I browsed German pages concerning Trichoderma. Useful information about its garden use
including acceptable fungicides can be found at
http://www.mykomax.de/Antagonisten.htm
Trichoderma in EU
BINAB TF.WP
Promot WP
Trianum
Trichostar
Trichodex
Vitalin T50 = Trichosan
Trichomax *

[Gerry Webster]

Has anyone tried 'Viresco'?:

http://www.viresco-uk.com/information/about_viresco.asp

It is effective against fungal problems with pot-grown frits, though it's about 10 years since I last had cause to use it.

[Heinie]

Alan,

I checked the website and Rootgrow is a Mycorrhizal fungi which is something different to Trichoderma harzianum. I tried the Mycorrhizal fungi for 14 months on 10 experimental Clivia seedlings. Five seedlings were planted with Mycorrhiza mixed in the growing medium and five seedlings were planted without Mycorrhiza. After 14 months I took all the seedlings out of their pots and I could not notice any difference in root growth or leaf growth between the 10 plants.

[Maggi Young]

Interesting to hear your lack of success with the mycoorhizal mix, Heinie.

There are those inthe UK singing the praises of these perparations I know..... and you are right, the Trichoderma is different, being a mycopariste: a fungi which parasitises  other fungi - so perhaps that is more useful in certain applications but could still be used in conjuntion with the mycorrhizal mix.

We need forumists trialling these things 

[Alan_b]

Trialling is made more difficult by the lack of a standard product available worldwide.  I think there are quite a few forumists risking our precious snowdrops with the version of Trichoderma that is available in the UK, which is something called "Canna Aktrivator".  At www.canna.com Canna describe themselves thus: "We are the Dutch experts and internationally recognised world wide leader in intelligent plant technologies for cultivating your favourite plants in cocoponics, hydroponics and soil."  We don't know if this is the same formulation as the New Zealand product, "Rootmate" or the product sold in South Africa.

[Heinie]

Interesting thoughts Allen. The Trichoderma harzianum I use is a product cultivated in South Africa for our conditions as they would say.

[Lesley Cox]

My original purchase of Trichoderma was a 10kg bag of granules, a commercial quantity and was simply labelled as Trichoderma. Since then it has come in various small home gardener guises, including Root Grow and more recently Rootmate and Plantmate. Of these, all have talked about Trichoderma by name, in the small print on the back of the packet.  

I'm sure there will be hundreds or maybe thousands of Trichoderma species around the world. When the technology was first being developed in New Zealand, there were some 200 species described, all native to New Zealand being used. It would be inconceivable that we had the lot. So probably many countries now have their particular versions of the original products. I'm not in a position to discuss those from other countries as I've never tried them. What I know for sure is that any plant, seed or other pot, trough or small garden area on/in which I've used Trichoderma, has flourished and shown no sign of any fungus condition which has needed any other treatment.

As the video ln Alan's link said, their fungus, and certainly my Trichoderma works for the life of the plant. It does not need yearly or otherwise repeated applications. In the video the product was sprinkled extensively into a planting hole. I don't use as much as that, except perhaps I might on a large plant such as a rose bush if I were planting one and my two recently acquired very large tree paeonies. For plants going into my troughs I sprinkle a mere pinch of granules around the root ball but over the planting hole so that any that fall off go into the hole, then place the plant and fill the hole as normally.

As I said above, I no longer use a water on version as it worked TOO well and there would be wastage of the solution which didn't fall on the plants/pots but in between or around them.

[Lesley Cox]

Trichoderma is known to be parasitic on at least some Phytophthora species. I often think that if it had been around and usable at the time, there need never have been an Irish potato famine, and the course of the world's history would have been quite different.

[Hillview croconut]

There's a thesis there . M

[Heinie]

Lesley,

It is a specific strain of Trichoderma for various root diseases and that is Trichoderma harzianum which is cultivated locally. The 10kg bag of Trichoderma granules you refer to is back in the early days when it was originally released. When Trichoderma was released here in smaller quantities to be used for the hobbyist gardeners a few years ago we could buy it in 5kg bags of pink granules. I was the first person in our Clivia club to purchase a bag to experiment with. I went crazy about this good stuff from all the commercial references and followed the instructions applicable to domestic gardens. I first tackled about 50 pots planted with seedling Clivias and then continued with the mature plants. I was advised to remove about 40 to 50mm of the growing medium around the plant stem, place a teaspoon of granules around the stem and close up again and water the plant. I did this with a number of seedlings and mature plants over about 4 days.

After about one week I was devastated one morning to find a huge number of my seedlings with broken leaves and some small ones uprooted in my large shade house. A few mature plant pots were also disturbed with growing medium all over the show. I immediately blamed the Indian Minah birds we have around in summer that may have found a way into the shade house. I replanted the seedlings that I could save and the next morning I found the same thing. This procedure continued for a few days until I noticed a rat running across the shade house floor. I immediately changed my mind to who the culprits were and accepted that the rats were my problem digging into the medium after the granules. I called the company I purchased the product from and there I found the answer. The Trichoderma was attached to Sago granules as the host to enable spreading easier for commercial growers and farmers. The rats were after the sago. I was very lucky that they told me to return the bag and refunded me.

I was then offered the opportunity to purchase the Thrichoderma harzianum in a neat powder form in a 450 gram packet. I mix one teaspoon of the product with 10 liters water as per instruction and it has been very successful. The sago pellet form is still available.

Trichoderma spores can live for a long time and multiply as well if it is in the correct environment. The soil should never dry out because the spores will then die too because they need damp conditions to live. With the Clivia and bulbs I grow the product must be replenished monthly because there are a number of bulbs where the medium has to dry before watering again. Clivias also go very dry before watering again. The Trichoderma spores cannot survive in dry conditions.

After about 5 years I am still very happy with this product and can recommend it for any root problems.

[Maggi Young]

A couple of us wrote to Rootgrow and got this helpful reply today...

Dear Ian and Alan,

You both enquired about rootgrow and Trichoderma on the same day, which was very unusual for us so i hope you don't mind me combining your email response.

rootgrow contains UK origin mycorrhizal fungi, a combination of arbsucular mycorrhizal fungi and ectomycorrhizal fungi, it does not contain Trichoderma.

It is likely the two products are compatible, however i need to clarify that point.

With a Trichoderma product it maybe easier to think of it as a foliar fungicide, i.e. you spray it onto leaves and the soil surface.

Trichoderma is a myco-parasite, a parasite of fungi and has been known to help control damping off or pythium in seedlings and botrytis (Gray Mould) in some crops.

Mycorrhizal fungi exhibit a symbiotic relationship with their host plant, they exist attached to plant roots living underground where they source water and nutrients and feed them to the host plant.

As a rule of thumb, use Mycorrhiza when planting into soil on the plant roots on mature plants that have left propagation, use Trichoderma in container growing, including seed growing and propagation of young plants. You can try introducing Mycorrhiza in propagation but due to artificial substrates and restricted root development the benefits are usually small, mycorrhiza really benefit plants when planted into soil.

If you were to inoculate young plants with mycorrhiza and then do a deep soil drench of Trichoderma (not just a light foliar spray but soaking the compost, which would be very expensive) then there maybe some antagonism between Trichoderma and mycorrhiza i.e. the Trichoderma would start feeding off the Mycorrhiza.

I do know of some Dutch scientists that have however found no antagonism, in fact the two organisms work well together, that may have been down to a unique strain of Trichoderma. It is here that we are right on the edge of science and what we know, it will probably be a decade or so before we understand these interactions better. As far as I recall on my studies on Trichoderma we hadn't even properly identified Trichoderma to the Species level, they were known as Species Aggregates.

If you wish to try using the products in conjunction please follow the above advice, there should be no detrimental effects to the plants as the likely negative outcome would be the Trichoderma just consumes the Mycorrhiza, however initially and from a common sense point of view try it on a small number of low value plants and see how you get on.

Regards

Mark

--

Mark Mackie
Sales & Marketing Director

M 07834 515 313

PlantWorks UK
1-19 Innovation Buildings
Kent Science Park
Sittingbourne
Kent
ME9 8HL
T 01795 411527
F 01795 411529
E info@plantworksuk.co.uk
www.friendlyfungi.co.uk

[Great Moravian]

BINAB TF.WP http://www.algonet.se/~binab/english/tf.htm
Promot WP http://www.sw-duenger.de/en/produkte/staerkungsmittel/spezial-duenger_promt_wp.html
Trianum http://www.trianum.com/nl/news.html
Trichostar http://www.rasenpartner.de/?Aktuelles
Trichodex http://www.epa.gov/oppbppd1/biopesticides/ingredients/tech_docs/tech_119200.htm
Vitalin T50 = Trichosan http://www.nuetzlinge-shop.de/oxid.php/sid/54ba67086600cd82b19f91c2e4d5214a/cl/details/anid/f08481883207e8dc4.89459807/Trichosan-1.0-kg-Dose//listtype/search/searchparam/trichosan
Trichomax * http://biomanagement.de/download/InfoTrichoMax.DOC

[Alan_b]

I have been looking to see if I can find any of the products listed above for sale in the UK.  My one success so far has been with "Trianum", which appears to be on sale here: http://www.jfcmonro.co.uk/search.asp?types=yes&type=Biological+Control+%3E+Sprays