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I was watching a video on bare root tree planting, and was wondering if you really need to use mycorrhiza if planting a tree/bush.

Stephie
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black thumb
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  • You do have strange questions these days. Have you ever planted a tree? – J. Chomel Jul 04 '16 at 06:16
  • Not yet, but I will be ordering soon. A few years ago I planted an apple tree, and this spring I planted blueberries, which are growing well, but developing a red leaf here, and there, but that comes from over watering during establishment of the bush. – black thumb Jul 04 '16 at 06:46
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    Thanks Black Thumb for your explanation. Context is important for G&L – J. Chomel Jul 04 '16 at 07:38
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    A lot of your questions start with "I heard..." or "I saw...” or similar. It would be helpful if you would cite your sources so that we might get some context for your questions. Thanks – Niall C. Jul 05 '16 at 07:29

1 Answers1

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In general, it is not important, you can't avoid it!

Most farmer knew nothing about it back in the days...

Mycorrhiza will naturally occur in healthy natural environment. If you plant a tree with home grown compost, you do add "mycorrhiza" anyway.

One case I know it is: Truffles

They do this e.g. to grow truffles.

It is important in this case for your crop yield in that case.

Particular cases

I'm sure there are trees that cannot grow at all if they don't have one special mycorrhiza... But then it will be on the roots (even bare) when you plant it.

J. Chomel
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  • If I'm establishing a new forest for growing food, can I just get it from the forest floor so I can get it fairly cheap, or will compost dirt have enough to get going? I'm looking to get into growing bumper crop yields for friends, and family. – black thumb Jul 04 '16 at 06:43
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    You can easily rake a few big bags of rotten leaves from an healthy forest. Keep them moist / bury them shallowly in your tree shade. There will be plenty of it in it. – J. Chomel Jul 04 '16 at 07:37
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    @J.Chomel I agree, cultivated plants don't requires mycorrhiza (or it is enough what occurs naturally). Orchids are just one exceptions (and was the cause of difficulty on cultivation, last century) – Giacomo Catenazzi Jul 04 '16 at 09:00
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    If you want to go crazy in your mychrrhizae, collect duff/soil from an area in which the trees you are planting naturally grow. A well respected organic plant health care specialist I know goes as far as to collect litter/soil from wild blueberry patches to inoculate a special compost pile. He then uses the compost pile to make compost tea which he sprays on cultivated blueberry shrubs. Might be overkill, but it sounds nice. – That Idiot Jul 06 '16 at 13:53