posted May 07, 2008 11:37 AM            

Don't expect Algore to trot these out. Don't expect the loony so called scientists of the man made global warming set to trot them out and don't expect the main stream media who carried the loons predictions in the past to trot them out.

To take these predictions out of the closet for the public to scrutinize would be the intellectually honest thing to do. But you will find not one particle of intellectual honesty in any of these people. They have an agenda and it's not saving the world from global warming.

Environmentalists' wacky predictions
Posted: May 07, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

Now that another Earth Day has come and gone, let's look at some environmentalist predictions that they would prefer we forget.

At the first Earth Day celebration, in 1969, environmentalist Nigel Calder warned, "The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind." C.C. Wallen of the World Meteorological Organization said, "The cooling since 1940 has been large enough and consistent enough that it will not soon be reversed." In 1968, professor Paul Ehrlich, Vice President Gore's hero and mentor, predicted there would be a major food shortage in the U.S. and "in the 1970s ... hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." Ehrlich forecasted that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, and by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich's predictions about England were gloomier: "If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000."

In 1972, a report was written for the Club of Rome warning the world would run out of gold by 1981, mercury and silver by 1985, tin by 1987 and petroleum, copper, lead and natural gas by 1992. Gordon Taylor, in his 1970 book "The Doomsday Book," said Americans were using 50 percent of the world's resources and "by 2000 they [Americans] will, if permitted, be using all of them." In 1975, the Environmental Fund took out full-page ads warning, "The world as we know it will likely be ruined by the year 2000."

Harvard University biologist George Wald in 1970 warned, "... civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." That was the same year Sen. Gaylord Nelson warned, in Look magazine, that by 1995 "... somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct."

(Column continues below)

It's not just latter-day doomsayers who have been wrong; doomsayers have always been wrong. In 1885, the U.S. Geological Survey announced there was "little or no chance" of oil being discovered in California, and a few years later they said the same about Kansas and Texas. In 1939, the U.S. Department of the Interior said American oil supplies would last only another 13 years. In 1949, the secretary of the interior said the end of U.S. oil supplies was in sight. Having learned nothing from its earlier erroneous claims, in 1974 the U.S. Geological Survey advised us that the U.S. had only a 10-year supply of natural gas. The fact of the matter, according to the American Gas Association, is there's a 1,000 to 2,500 year supply.

Here are my questions: In 1970, when environmentalists were making predictions of manmade global cooling and the threat of an ice age and millions of Americans starving to death, what kind of government policy should we have undertaken to prevent such a calamity? When Ehrlich predicted that England would not exist in the year 2000, what steps should the British Parliament have taken in 1970 to prevent such a dire outcome? In 1939, when the U.S. Department of the Interior warned that we only had oil supplies for another 13 years, what actions should President Roosevelt have taken? Finally, what makes us think that environmental alarmism is any more correct now that they have switched their tune to manmade global warming?

posted May 07, 2008 12:26 PM            

So Blue, which part is tripe? Is it that the predictions made by loons were not made at all? You deny they made those predictions?

Is it the statement that 95% of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere is water vapor? Is that the tripe to which you object?

Is it the statement that the greenhouse gasses released by wetlands exceeds the entire contributions of humans?

You sound like one of Algore's "useful idiots".

posted May 07, 2008 12:50 PM            

Now Blue, I maintain it's all true and much more besides what was stated.

I maintain the so called global warming scientists are cranks, morons, idiots, falsifiers of input data and cover up artists employing methods which are not to be found in real scientific investigation or research.

Their nonsense is not peer reviewed for the most part and when one of the loons submits a paper for review to a scientific journal, real scientists rip them to threads because their conclusions and findings cannot be duplicated by other scientists using the methods they claimed to have used. Their papers are worthless.

Of course, useful idiots wouldn't know any of that nor care. It's all about how they "feel". That's why they're only "useful idiots"?

posted May 07, 2008 01:18 PM            

Oh dear, global warming nuts are wringing their lying little hands. Algore's "tipping point" has come and gone and nothing tipped.

In fact, global temperatures have been declining since 1998. This at a time when CO2 concentrations in earths atmosphere were and are increasing.

What to do, oh dear God, what to do? If rising levels of CO2 in earths atmosphere causes rising global temperatures, then why is it cooling?

Well, how about this? We say the cooling...instead of the warming we predicted..is being caused by cumulative factors like El Nino and La Nina and that by 2015 or so...don't want to be too specific here..well global temperatures will start marching upwards once again.

That way, we can maintain we were right all along and by 2015 we will have accomplished our main goal and it won't matter what the hell happens to global temperatures.

posted May 07, 2008 03:22 PM              

quote:

---

As for farming techniques, all waste vegetative matter should be returned to the soil as should all manure from farms. Fields should be left unplanned with food crops every 7 years on a rotation basis and instead, a crop of legumes or clover should be planted and plowed under...as many times as possible during a planting season. A final crop of red clover or similar should be planted in the fall and plowed under in the spring...in every farm field. Crops should be rotated and where possible, companion planting should be used. For instance, corn and beans planted together. But then, I'm not an agro conglomerate, so what the hell do I know?

---

In addition, I'd like to add to that list, using fungi to assist in the growth of the plants.

The term mycorrhizal comes from the Greek words mykes, meaning fungus, and rhiza, meaning root. Mycorrhizal fungi are fungi that have developed a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with the root systems of living plants, from garden vegetables all the way up to Old Growth trees. Networks of mycorrhizal filaments envelop the seedling's root structure, greatly extending and enhancing (by a factor of several hundred to several thousand times) the growing plant's water- and nutrient-gathering abilities and protecting the plant from disease.

Sadly, modern techniques for clearing and developing land for human use destroy mycorrhizal fungi, reducing the ability of plants to thrive in man-made environments and forcing us to resort to fertilizers and other artificial means of promoting plant growth. Individuals and organizations worldwide are coming to realize that excessive use of such substances can negatively impact water quality and the environment as a whole.

From Here: http://fungiperfecti.com/mycogrow/index.html

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The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. ~ Countee Cullen

We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard

posted May 07, 2008 03:34 PM            

Can global warming’s vested interests close the deal on greenhouse gas regulation before the public wises up to their scam?

A new study indicates alarmist concern and a need to explain away the lack of actual global warming. Researchers belonging to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, reported in Nature (May 1) that after adjusting their climate model to reflect actual sea surface temperatures of the last 50 years, "global surface temperature may not increase over the next decade, as natural climate variations … temporarily offset the projected anthropogenic warming."

You got that? IPCC researchers project no global warming over the next decade because of Mother Nature. Although the result seems stunning in that it came from IPCC scientists who have always been in the tank for manmade global warming, it’s not really surprising since the notion of manmade climate change has never lived up to its billing.

When NASA’s James Hansen sounded the alarm in Congress 20 years ago, he predicted that rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, would drive global temperatures higher by 0.34 degrees Celsius during the 1990s. But surface temperatures increased during that decade by only 0.11 degrees Celsius and lower atmosphere temperatures actually decreased.

Global temperatures remain well below an El Nino-driven 1998 spike despite ever-increasing atmospheric CO2. Global warming hysterics purport that manmade emissions of CO2 are the primary driver of global climate and that controlling emissions will favorably affect climate. While this is obviously not so since it virtually supposes that without human activity climate change would not occur, it nevertheless remains their viewpoint.

The Nature study, however, reasserts Mother Nature in her rightful place as our climate dominatrix. Although there is no evidence that manmade CO2 emissions play any detectable role in climate change, the very idea that Mother Nature may cool the planet despite humanity’s furious output of greenhouse gases should be even worse for the climate alarmists’ way of thinking.

It would mean that greenhouse gas emissions are actually beneficial, since without them, Mother Nature’s cooling could be quite damaging. The last time the Earth significantly cooled was during the 14th to 19th centuries — a period known as the Little Ice Age.

Among other things during that period, the Vikings were forced to withdraw from a freezing Greenland and cooler Northern Hemisphere temperatures were responsible for, and or contributed to, numerous famines and much-related social upheaval. So will the Nature study dump climate alarmism into the ash can of history? Doubtful.

Just this week, Al Gore drummed up $683 million for an investment fund that aims to profit from government-subsidized global warming-related technologies. A few weeks ago, Gore launched a $300 million global warming ad campaign. Do you think he’s at all interested in returning that money to investors and contributors? Or that he and the IPCC are interested in returning their Nobel Peace Prizes?

The federal government has been doling out more than $5 billion annually for research into climate change and alternative energy. A generation ago, there were only a handful of climatologists around the world; now there are legions of taxpayer-funded climatologists, scientists and public health professionals from many disciplines also hooked up to the climate gravy train.

What about the private-sector profiteers? Will the carbon footprint industry give up its CO2-offset ATM? Will companies that have been lobbying to receive trillions of dollars of free carbon credits from Congress — including Alcoa, Dow Chemical, and Dupont — stop pushing for all that free money?

How many outspoken politicians and celebrities will be willing to acknowledge that they have made fools of themselves? I suppose that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Madonna and others could at least jet on back to their hypocritical Green lifestyles with a clear conscience of sorts.

Finally, there’s the environmental movement that is now just a November presidential election away from its dream of turning the United States into a centrally planned Green state where under the guise of saving the planet, the Green elites would get to pick and choose who gets to use how much energy and at what cost.

The bottom line of global warming — and that is why so many are behind it — is that its many vested interests are on the verge of a financial and political bonanza, something that scientific facts and climatic realities are likely only to spoil.

So when global temperature doesn’t behave as predicted, excuses and explanations must be found to prevent the almost-mature golden goose from being roasted for dinner. The spin on the Nature study provided by its authors to The New York Times is that, "We’re learning that [natural] climate variability is important and can mask the effects of human-induced global change. In the end this gives more confidence in the long-term projections."

The attempted logic here is that even though the alarmists have been wrong in the past — been there, done that — their failure somehow sets them up for more certain future success. We look past this logical fallacy at our own peril. I can’t wait for their Orwellian pronouncement that global cooling is the new global warming.

For the next 10 years, while alarmists ram through their misanthropic agenda, their time-buying story line will be "aren’t we lucky that Mother Nature has given us a temporary reprieve."

This will no doubt be followed 10 years later by "Whew, aren’t we glad we spent trillions to prevent catastrophic global warming?"

posted May 07, 2008 04:36 PM            

The use of chemical fertilizers destroys many soil organisms beneficial to plant growth. In addition to that, the usual fertilizers cause a buildup of salts in the soil, destroy the natural tilth of soil and destroy the soil's ability to hold water.

However both seed and soil can be innoculated with Mycorrhizal Fungi spores and should be to take advantage of their benefits.

When super-sweet corn was first available the seed had been treated with Captan to prevent the seed from rotting if the weather turned cooler and wetter after planting. I know there are innoculants for corn which accomplish what you suggest. I just don't know the names or brand names of the innoculants.

posted May 08, 2008 12:22 AM              

Plant Success™ Tabs for the
Home Gardener & Landscaper
A mixture of 12 species of endo- and ectomycorrhizal fungi, Plant Revolution™ Plant Success™ Tabs are designed to help the gardener or home landscaper promote fast plant and root growth, increase nutrient and water uptake and reduce fertilizer use. Exceptionally helpful for those who use commercial potting soils, which are sterilized and therefore devoid of beneficial microorganisms. Available in bottles of 150 tabs.
Contains concentrated spore mass of the following:
Endomycorrhizal fungi Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradices, Glomus clarum, Glomus monosporus, Glomus deserticola, Glomus brasilianum, Gigaspora margarita
Ectomycorrhizal fungi Pisolithus tinctorus, Rhizopogon villosullus, Rhizopogon luteolus, Rhizopogon amylopogon, Rhizopogon fulvigleba

MycoGrow™ Soluble
for Potting Soils & Rooting Media
MycoGrow™ Soluble is similar to Plant Success™ Tabs but is more concentrated, containing more spores and more species, plus other beneficial organisms. Consisting of powdered spore mass rather than tablets, MycoGrow™ Soluble is great for adding to rooting media or commercial potting soils. Sold in one pound and one ounce increments. An ounce is sufficient to treat 125–250 plants covering approximately 250 square feet.

Contains concentrated spore mass of the following:
Endomycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae, Glomus aggregatum, Glomus clarum, Glomus deserticola, Glomus etunicatum, Gigaspora margarita, Gigaspora brasilianum, Gigaspora monosporum
Ectomycorrhizal fungi Rhizopogon villosullus, Rhizopogon luteolus, Rhizopogon amylopogon, Rhizopogon fulvigleba, Pisolithus tinctorius, Laccaria bicolor, Laccaria laccata, Scleroderma cepa, Scleroderma citrinum, Suillus granulatas, Suillus punctatapies
Trichoderma Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma konigii
Beneficial Bacteria Bacillus subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus azotoformans, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus pumlis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus stearothermiphilis, Paenibacillus polymyxa, Paenibacillus durum, Paenibacillus florescence, Paenibacillus gordonae, Azotobacter polymyxa, Azotobacter chroococcum, Sacchromyces cervisiae, Streptomyces griseues, Streptomyces lydicus, Pseudomonas aureofaceans, Deinococcus erythromyxa

MycoGrow™ Gel
for Landscapers & Nurseries
For those with higher demands for quick recovery and luxuriant growth of garden and landscaping plants, MycoGrow™ Gel is the solution. One ounce of dry gel mixed into 1 quart of water creates a root dip that can inoculate up to 125 plants, and help to significantly reduce transplant shock, drought stress and plant diseases. In addition to mychorrizal fungi, MycoGrow™ Gel contains soluble kelp, humic & fulvic acids, vitamins B and C, and an organic starch based gel for improved water storage and uptake. Sold in one pound and one ounce increments.

Contains concentrated spore mass of the following:
Endomycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae, Glomus aggregatum, Glomus monosporum, Glomus clarum, Glomus deserticola, Gigaspora margarita, Gigaspora brasilianum, Gigaspora etunicatum
Ectomycorrhizal fungi Rhizopogon villosullus, Rhizopogon luteolus, Rhizopogon amylopogon, Rhizopogon fulvigleba, Pisolithus tinctorius, Scleroderma cepa, Scleroderma citrinum

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The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. ~ Countee Cullen

We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard

posted May 08, 2008 12:25 AM              

This is an article I found as well:

Mycorrhizal Management
A look beneath the surface at plant establishment and growth
by Michael P. Amaranthus, Ph.D. This article originally appeared in The Spring
1999 issue of Florida Landscape Architecture Quarterly, reprinted with
permission from the author.

Figure 1

Figure 1
An electron micrograph of a mycorrhiza on an evergreen seedling. Mycorrhizal filaments radiate into the soil from the mycorrhiza root tip.
Little things run the world. This is especially true when it comes to getting plants established. Under natural conditions plants live in close association with soil organisms called mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi colonize plant roots and extend the root system into the surrounding soil. (Figure 1.) Estimates of amounts of mycorrhizal filaments present in healthy soil are astonishing. Several miles of filaments can be present in less than a thimbleful of soil associated with vigorously growing plants. The relationship is beneficial because the plant enjoys improved nutrient and water uptake, disease resistance and superior survival and growth.

Figure 2

Figure 2
Maple (Acer spp.) seedling root systems. The seedling on the right was treated with a mycorrhizal root dip gel. The maple seedling on the left was an untreated control.
Nearly all commercially produced plants form mycorrhizae and require the association for maximum performance in outplanted environments. (Figure 2). This not-so-glorious association between plants and mycorrhizal fungi is fundamental to plant establishment and growth.

Depending on the environment in which they are growing, plants may divert up to 80% or more of the net energy fixed as sunlight to below-ground processes. Some of this energy goes into root growth; but, a high proportion may be used to feed mycorrhizal fungi and other soil organisms. This is not energy that is lost to the plant. On the contrary, soil organisms living in the root zone greatly influence the ability of plants to establish through effects on nutrient cycling, pathogens, soil aeration, and soil water uptake. Of the various soil organisms that benefit plant establishment, the most is known about mycorrhizal fungi. Roughly 90% of plant species are thought to form mycorrhizae: the combination of fungal and root tissue is called the mycorrhiza and the fungal partner is termed a mycorrhizal fungus.

Commercial production of mycorrhizal fungi for practical use has been available in the last decade, however, the importance of mycorrhizal fungi has been evident for some 400 million years. The earliest fossil records of the roots of land plants contain evidence of the fossil remains of mycorrhizal fungi. Scientists now believe that the "marriage" of mycorrhizal fungus and plant played an essential role in the evolutionary step which brought aquatic plants from sea to land. At some point in the evolutionary process, a filament penetrated into the outer cells of a primitive plant root. Once there, it accommodated itself so nicely that a new, more complex entity emerged, the mycorrhiza. The increased absorbing area provided by an elaborate system of fungal filaments allowed aquatic plants to leave the marine environment and exploit a relatively harsh soil environment. In today's man-made environments plants can be greatly stressed and the relationship between fungus and root is critical. Unnatural conditions such as concrete, asphalt, roadsides, sidewalk cut outs, trenching, drain fields, air pollution, shopping malls, business districts, and suburban developments adversely effect the presence and abundance of mycorrhizal fungi.
Figure 3

Figure 3
Construction sites typically compact the soil and remove organic matter and topsoil. These practices reduce or eliminate mycorrhizal fungi.
Man-made environments often suffer from compaction, top soil loss, and the absence of quality organic matter, conditions which reduce the habitat necessary for the mycorrhizal fungus to survive and thrive (Figure 3). Artificial landscapes effect the mycorrhizal relationship in two fundamental ways. First, they isolate the plant from beneficial mycorrhizal fungi available in natural settings and, secondly, they increase plant stress and the need for water, nutrients, and soil structure mediated by their below-ground "partners".

Fortunately, recent advancements in mycorrhizal research and application have made landscape applications with mycorrhiza easy and inexpensive. New products and knowledge result in increased transplant survival and lower long-term maintenance. However, to be successful the landscape contractor requires an appreciation of fungi beyond itchy toes and moldy bread.

Figure 4

Figure 4
"Cut-away" view of the root structure of conifer seedlings, enhanced and extended by a network of mycorrhizal filaments.
How do mycorrhizal fungi work?

Mycorrhizal root systems increase the absorptive the absorbing area of roots 10 to 1000 times thereby greatly improving the ability of the plants to utilize the soil resource. (Figure 4). Mycorrhizal fungi are able to absorb and transfer all of the 15 major macro and micro nutrients necessary for plant growth. Mycorrhizal fungi release powerful chemicals into the soil that dissolve hard to capture nutrients such as phosphorous, iron and other "tightly bound" soil nutrients. This extraction process is particularly important in plant nutrition and explains why non mycorrhizal plants require high levels of fertility to maintain their health. Mycorrhizal fungi form an intricate web that captures and assimilates nutrients conserving the nutrient capital in soils. In non mycorrhizal conditions much of this fertility is wasted or lost from the system.

Mycorrhizal fungi are involved with a wide variety of other activities that benefit plant establishment and growth. The same extensive network of fungal filaments important to nutrient uptake are also important in water uptake and storage. In non-irrigated conditions, mycorrhizal plants are under far less drought stress compared to non mycorrhizal plants. In a recent study, true fir seedlings treated with mycorrhizal inoculum had 43 percent less plant moisture stress than non-treated control seedlings on a droughty, difficult to revegetate site. Tree vigor, color and needle retention were improved with the mycorrhizal treated plants (Figure 5). Rhizopogon mycorrhizae were abundant on the roots systems of the treated plants (Figure 6). Numerous studies have shown Rhizopogon spp. is an aggressive colonizer in non-irrigated and harsh field conditions.
Figure 5a Figure 5b
Figures 5a & 5b
Red fir seedlings (Abies magnifica) outplanted on a difficult to regenerate dry site. Seedling A was treated with a mycorrhizal inoculum; seedling B was not treated. Treated seedlings averaged 43% less moisture stress and 30% more needle retention.

Figure 6

Figure 6
A cluster of Rhizopogon mycorrhizae. A single root tip colonized by the Rhizopogon mycorrhizal fungus will branch into a densely packed coral-like accumulation of many root tips.
Disease and pathogen suppression is another benefit for a mycorrhizal plant. Mycorrhizal roots have a mantle (a tight, interwoven sock-like covering of dense filaments) that acts as a physical barrier against the invasion of root diseases. In addition, mycorrhizal fungi attack pathogen or disease organisms entering the root zone. For example, excretions of specific antibiotics produced by mycorrhizal fungi immobilize and kill disease organisms. Some mycorrhizal fungi protect pine trees from Phytophora, Fusarium and Rhizoctonia diseases. In a recent University study, pine trees were purposefully inoculated with the common disease organism- Fusarium. Over 90% of the pine trees died. Only the pine trees inoculated with the mycorrhizal fungus Rhizopogon survived. Survival rates for Rhizopogon treated pines exceeded 95%.

Mycorrhizal fungi also improve soil structure. Mycorrhizal filaments produce humic compounds and organic "glues" (extracellular polysaccharides) that bind soils into aggregates and improves soil porosity.

Soil porosity and soil structure positively influence the growth of plants by promoting aeration, water movement into soil, root growth, and distribution. In sandy or compacted soils the ability of mycorrhizal fungi to promote soil structure may be more important than the seeking out of nutrients.

Does my soil already contain mycorrhizal fungi?

Soils in natural settings are full of beneficial soil organisms including mycorrhizal fungi. Research indicates, however, many common practices can degrade the mycorrhiza-forming potential of soil. Tillage, fertilization, removal of topsoil, erosion, site preparation, road and home construction, fumigation, invasion of non native plants, and leaving soils bare are some of the activities that can reduce or eliminate these beneficial soil fungi. In many man-made landscapes we have reduced or eliminated the soil organisms necessary for plants to function without high levels of maintenance.

Nursery grown plants available to landscape contractors are often deficient in mycorrhizae. Plants raised in most nurseries receive intensive care and feeding. The artificial conditions, high levels of water and nutrients and sterile soils at the nursery keep certain soil born diseases to a minimum and produce vast quantities of plants for sale. Unfortunately, the high levels of water and nutrients and the lack of mycorrhizae discourage the plant to produce the extensive root system it will need for successful transplantation. The result are plants poorly adapted to the eventual outplanted condition that must be weaned from intensive care systems and begin to fend for themselves. Application of mycorrhizal inoculum during transplanting can encourage plant establishment and set the plant on track to feed for itself. Research studies document the need of plants to generate a mycorrhizal roots system in order to become established. Maintaining intensive inputs is necessary until the extensive root system is achieved . There are practical solutions to some of the mycorrhizal deficiencies in man-made environments and reintroducing mycorrhizal fungi in areas where they have been depleted can dramatically improve plant establishment and growth.
What types of mycorrhizal products are available?

A landscape contractor can enhance plant root growth and transplant success and ameliorate many problems that result from intensive care practices at the nursery. Plants grew and thrived on this planet for millions of years without intensive care. Nature provides the template. A more sustainable approach to plant establishment and growth includes using mycorrhizal fungi.

Certain mycorrhizal spores or "seeds" of the fungus have been selected for their establishment and growth-enhancing abilities. The goal is to create physical contact between the mycorrhizal inoculant and the plant root. Mycorrhizal inoculant can be sprinkled onto roots during transplanting, worked into seed beds, blended into potting soil, watered in via existing irrigation systems, applied as a root dip gel or probed into the root zone of existing plants. The type of application depends upon the conditions and needs of the applicator. Generally, mycorrhizal application is easy, inexpensive and requires no special equipment. Typically for small plants the cost ranges from less than a penny to a few cents per seedling. For larger plants more inoculum is needed and costs are higher.

Mycorrhizal products often contain other ingredients designed to increase the effectiveness of the mycorrhizal spores. For example, organic matter is often added to encourage microbial activity , soil structure and root growth. Stress vitamins improve nutrient uptake and builds root biomass. Water absorbing gels help "plaster" beneficial mycorrhizal spores in close proximity to feeder roots and encourage favorable soil moisture conditions for mycorrhizae to form and grow. Organic biostimulants, in general are effective ingredients in mycorrhizal products. By promoting field competitiveness, stress resistance and nutrient efficiency biostimulants reduce barriers for rapid mycorrhizal formation especially during the critical period following transplanting.

Mycorrhizal diversity is important

Natural areas generally contain an array of mycorrhizal fungal species. The proportions and abundance of mycorrhizal species often shifts following any disturbance. Not all mycorrhizal fungi have the same capacities and tolerances. Some are better at imparting drought resistance while others may be more effective in protecting against pathogens or have more tolerance to soil temperature extremes. Because of the wide variety of soil, climatic, and biotic conditions characterizing man-made environments, it is improbable that a single mycorrhizal fungus could benefit all host species and adapt to all conditions. For example, the types and activities of mycorrhizal fungi associated with young plants may be quite different from those associated with mature plants Likewise, mycorrhizal fungi needed to help seedlings establish themselves on difficult sites may differ from those which sustain productivity over a long-lived plant.

Diversity likely provides a buffering capacity not found on sites with only one or few species. The diversity of mycorrhizal fungi formed by a given plant may increase its ability to occupy diverse below-ground niches and survive a range of chemical and physical conditions.

Conclusions

The lack of mycorrhizal fungi on plant root systems is a leading cause of poor plant establishment and growth in a variety of forest, restoration, agricultural, suburban and urban landscapes. As we develop holistic approaches to understanding man-made environments we must factor in the inseparable connections to soil organisms. Mycorrhizal fungi are one of the more important groups of soil organisms and play a critical role in nutrient cycling, mediating plant stress and protecting against pathogens. They are also cornerstones in the ability of plants to survive transplant shock . Plants have co-evolved mutualistic relationships with symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi such that their survival and fitness depends upon the healthy functioning of these fungi and vice versa. Just as plants invest tremendous capital in the form of energy to fuel below-ground soil organisms, so too we must "look below the surface " to understand and utilize these beneficial fungi.

Dr. Mike Amaranthus spent 20 years with Oregon State University and the USDA Forest Service where he authored over 50 research papers on mycorrhizae. He is a recipient of the USDA Department of Agriculture Highest Honors Award for scientific achievement and has been featured on several major national and international television programs.

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The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. ~ Countee Cullen

We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard