As avocado growers begin planting and preparing for the new season, it’s important to ensure that your soil is well-conditioned and in optimum condition to grow healthy plants. Many factors can reduce soil quality, including nutrient depletion, drought, pathogens and more, which in turn can negatively impact the success of your crop.
To combat these issues, Mycorrhizal fungi is an excellent addition to your new planting or mature trees , added with your soil fertilisation regime!
But what is Mycorrhizal fungi? And how will it benefit your crops? We like to think of Mycorrhizal fungi as the best way to secure your investment. These organisms work to increase nutrient uptake in the soil, boost water retention and overall improve survival rates of new plantings.
Keep reading to learn more about why you should apply Mycorrhizal fungi to your avocado crops this season.
Better nutrition
Mycorrhizal fungi produce extremely long wispy tendrils that grow throughout the soil in a dense web. When Mycorrhizal fungi are present in the soil, they form a symbiotic connection with your crops’ root system. This connection increases the reach of those roots, which enables trees to better access nutrients that would otherwise be too hard to reach. This can be crucial for accessing notoriously immobile nutrients like Phosphorus.
Better quality soil
Nutrient leaching is a major issue faced by commercial avocado growers. In poor soil affected (variously) by drought and heavy rainfall, significant amounts of nutrients applied through fertilisation is lost in the groundwater; specifically Phosphorus and Nitrogen. These nutrients then end up polluting precious waterways causing considerable environmental damage.
Because of Mycorrhizal fungi’s web-like structure, it provides better soil stability, effectively holding the earth together. This improves water retention, which decreases leaching by holding nutrients closer to the surface where roots can take them up easily.
Higher yields and better quality fruit
While Mycorrhizal fungi is beneficial to a wide range of crops, there is a lot of evidence to show that it has an especially great impact on avocados. One study found that the growth rate of inoculated avocados was a massive 250% higher than uninoculated avocados. Don’t believe us? Read more details here.
Highlights from the study include inoculated avocados:
- Being 30% larger than uninoculated avocados;
- Having 83% greater top weights than uninoculated avocados;
- Having 123% greater root weights than uninoculated avocados.
Evidence suggests that avocados benefit significantly from inoculation in soils with low Phosphorus levels. This finding is particularly intriguing as New Zealand struggles with naturally low Phosphorus soil, requiring costly Phosphorus fertiliser imports. Rootella can save growers a significant amount of money by reducing reliance on expensive fertilisers.
Resistance to disease
Mycorrhizal fungi create healthy and well-nutriated crops with naturally higher functioning immune systems. This enables them to better resist the onset of disease more effectively. Soil dominated by Mycorrhizal fungi also protects crops from pathogenic fungi getting too close.
Carbon storage for climate action
Mycorrhizal fungi also contribute to action against climate change by increasing the capacity of plants to store carbon underground. When plants draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the fungi attached to plant roots uses the CO2 to build its own hyphae. This association between vegetation and mycorrhizal fungi accounts for up to 70% of carbon stored in the earth’s Glomalin sinks .
Our Mycorrhizal fungi product, Rootella, is a highly concentrated formulation of Mycorrhizal fungi that comes in both a granular and fine powder form, suitable for a number of application methods .
Contact your local ag retailer to place an order for Rootella today. Or contact Roots, Shoots & Fruits’ Director, Molly, for more information and answers to any of your questions!
Did you know? We recommend applying Rootella with Superzyme at time of planting! This powerful duo provide a wide range of benefits and protection.
