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Article A quick look in the rhizosphere of pines V1. Final

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I cut some pine roots off of live plants and put them in Petri's with sources of food for fungi and bacteria.
I wanted to visualize what happens after transplanting and how the rhizobial community (root-area community) restores itself in different pines and different stages of growth.
The document is a collection of that data. Draw your own conclusions, do whatever you want with it.

I'm not going to discuss results or limitations, this is DIY estimation kitchen science. I know that. You should know that. Unless you're going to pay for a flow hood, this'll be the best I can do at home. I tried my best not to set 'absolute' conclusions, because this type of kitchen science can't yield those kind of conclusions. I'm hoping everyone keeps that in mind. The file yields indications at most.

Important note: petri dishes are 2D, they have flat surfaces. In the real world, one could assume that the growth is three dimensional. Convert those cm2's to cm3's in your mind.

Important note 2: I made this document and everything in it, I did the work, I invested time, money and resources, and I'm a broke as F. If you're going to copy this document, or share it, make sure that you at least mention me (Wires_Guy_Wires) and bonsainut. Like any honest person should. I'm fine with spreading free information, I support that, but gimme some credits in return.
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Wires_Guy_wires
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Kitchen science is all ordinary bonsai & gardeners need to act upon. The gory details that serious scientists need and love would go over the heads of us ordinary folk anyway. My own formula for potting soil uses 50% by weight top soil as sold by the bag at any big box and 50% pine bark soil conditioner plus additives to encourage the microbial population, so all my trees are already immersed in a full range soil residents. I will throw a handful of old soil into the mix now, too, because of your article. Thanks!
Nice work, your point of replication of samples is very important. I wonder if based upon your results, if you would recommend inoculating young seedlings with mychorrizae? Also based upon your observations, what types of “carbohydrates” would you recommend would best be use to ramp up the fungal/bacterial balance in the repots? Cheers DSD sends
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Wires_Guy_wires
I think that there is no need for inoculation of seedlings. Even though we do peroxide soaks, most fungi seem to survive them. My backyard has a patch where I store firewood and the ground is covered in pine bark, I find most mycorrhizae (at least the pine related ones) to thrive and fruit there, they inoculate my pots naturally.
Ramping up the balance in my pots was done with very light mixtures of plant-available sugars like glucose (10g/L) or more complex nutrients like Light Malt extract (2.4g/L) applied once. But that throws off the balance; bacteria have an easier meal with these solutions compared to the slower fungi. They make the soil more acidic and in excess they even make the soil anaerobic due to them releasing co2 and forming sludges. So there's a need for lignin and cellulose too: bark chips.
Right now, I think a marshmellow or two doesn't do any harm either. They are slow release.
But overfeeding these fungi makes them independent, and they could turn parasitic. So just doing nothing is sometimes better. Especially if you're fertilizing heavily too. I wouldn't combine fertilizing with carbohydrate applications more than once.
Interesting observations, good starting point to ask more questions! Well done!
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