- 01 Fungi need living roots, air, and moisture — a bag is not a soil Root fungi are living partners. Compacted, drowned, or empty soil starves them even if you bought a packet.
- 02 Put inoculant next to the seed or the transplant root Spores far from a living root miss the plant signal. Coat seed, dip roots, or place a pinch in the planting hole.
- 03 Too much phosphorus can turn the partnership off Root fungi earn their keep when phosphorus is hard to reach. A heavy P dressing can make the plant stop inviting them.
- 04 Host crops keep fungi; long brassica or fallow sequences starve them Cabbage-family beds and empty fallows do not feed arbuscular fungi. Follow them with a host cover before a crop that needs the …
- 05 Tillage, compaction, and waterlogging break the network Hyphae are threads. A rotovator, a hard pan, or a drowned bed cuts them. Root disease then finds easier entry.
- 06 Match the fungus type to the plant — vegetables are not pines Most farm vegetables and many fruit trees use arbuscular fungi. Many forest trees use ectomycorrhizae. The wrong packet wastes money.