Biological Soil Amendments

Why Inoculate?

The reason we need to inoculate is because standard nursery and greenhouse practices do not provide many of the natural systems that indeed plants have evolved with. In nature nothing happens without a reason. Nursery and greenhouse production is manufacturing of plants according to the specifications required by customers. Users of nursery products specify according to size, shape, spread, and other physical characteristics. Have you ever read, or heard of, a specification that required a complete plant both physically, and botanically? The industry has largely ignored plant and soil systems below/beyond the physical appearance required by customer requirements. Horticultural classes in our universities and technical schools give little attention to the topic of mycorrhizae - but this is changing rapidly. Because of the pressure the typical nurserymen has to turn inventory, little, if any attention, has been given to the natural health of the plant. Thus the nursery industry produces plants that are not naturally complete. Because nearly all plants are not complete without the mycorrhizal association they are relatively fragile and can quickly die if not maintained intensively. Newly installed plants today are an immediate target for predators because they lack natural immune systems and defense mechanisms that plants have evolved with and are found in health plants both in managed and natural settings. These systems, which have evolved over hundreds of millions of years, are in the truest sense State-Of-Art systems that are as perfect as nature can provide. Today our culture wants to use less harmful systems to manage plants. We are interested to know how to stop polluting our water tables and our air with chemicals. All of us are awakening with the knowledge of what our past abuses have done to our environment and subsequently to our heath and the health and future of our children. With respect to plants and plant establishment, and all life for that matter, "natural" is better. "Natural" for plants lies beneath our feet, in the ground, a much more complex environment than we have ever imagined. Fortunately the world beneath our feet operates in a most logical, and predictable way. Mycorrhiza is but one of the systems beneath our feet but it has to be ranked as a major component of natural plant health. LANDSCAPE CONDITIONS ARE NOT IDEAL. All will agree that we could use somehelp for better results with newly planted landscapes. Often newly planted landscape goes into severe shock. Generally the reason is poor water management, but heat, time of the year, soil conditions, along with untold other factors also play important roles here. One of the biggest problems that no one seems to talk about is the fact that most nursery grown plants have little, if any, natural systems working with the plant. Mycorrhizal roots take hold faster - there is little doubt on this fact. Plus, what attention is given to the microbial activity in the soil. Without good bugs in the ground we lose the opportunity of using the natural minerals that make up the ground.

If the landscaper was planting a complete plant system in less than ideal conditions there would still be stress, etc., but the degree of damage to the plant would not be as great with these natural systems working for the plant. If all conditions were ideal there wouldn't be a gamble when transplanting and one wouldn't need to worry about inoculating. But generally conditions are not ideal and you could use some help in "stacking the deck" on your side. Inoculation can significantly aid transplanted trees, shrubs and flowerbed results, especially under adverse conditions. Feeding the ground with biostimulants to energize the soil, and even adding beneficial bacteria, can make a world of difference for the transplant. Finally, including a water management gel to hold water and manage all the solubles can have dramatic results.

DIEHARD inoculants, with all the additional additives, are an investment that can return its cost several times over in a number of ways. Just think how you would feel about your projects if you had all the goodies Mother Nature has to offer working for you.