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Antwerp, Belgium

Hi,

For them who use Mycorrhiza on the roots, maybe this tip :

When you harvest your pumpkins, also harvest the finest roots : they are covered with Mycorrhiza.

Chop them into pieces of about 2 inch and let them dry and store them in a dark cool place.The Mycorrhiza becomes inactive but the spores stay on the root chips.

When you plant the next year, you put some of this dried root chips along the roots of the seedlings and the Mycorrhiza will "wake up" and start doing its job.

People selling Mycorrhiza products will probably not like this tip very much.... :-)

10/10/2013 3:37:09 AM

Minnesota

Thanks

10/10/2013 4:24:51 AM

Canton Ohio

Just be certain you don't have any pythium rot. You could end up ruining next years pumpkins. This is why many growers change plots from year to year.

10/10/2013 6:33:24 AM

Eurasia

Reflect again, Richard.
I have studies ag, and so I look deeper behind the question of what mycos you should use and how they persist in soil or ob stored roots.
A German manufacturer of simpler mycorrhizae bribed me and sent me their product freebie, but I say it further on: only buy Holland´s Biogrow Endo Plus every year!

10/10/2013 6:34:02 AM

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

Early spring this year I grew in two hundred 4 gallon pails in a greenhouse, myco innoculated winter rye.
The medium was 80% clean sand, 20% worm castings. The roots mass/innoculation was excellent. I let some dry out and go dormant but also used the "active" root mass to bury vines.

Growing your own is more work but more rewarding (to me anyway), plus you can basically produce as much as you want. BUT... keeping everything clean, disease free, and in a healthy living environment is not as easy as it may sound. Because of my research I chose not to use pumpkin plants for culturing based upon the increased disease possibilities.

I think if you want the very best myco buy from a reputable company or invest in a controlled way to grow your own.

Knightfish, some of the innoculated cover crop's roots can be pulled as well and saved for the following year using your advice.

10/10/2013 10:19:49 AM

Minnesota

I did! I'm still the best looking dam man on this earth!:) I like the idea, if I can I might try to save some roots next year.

10/10/2013 2:48:18 PM

Manitoba

I don't know anything about mycorrhiza but I do collect turkey tails off of dead trees in the forest, chop up those that are choppable, and add them to the soil in the fall. Does that count? Turkey tails are considered to be a potent medicine for human health. I'm adding a whole bunch to the spot where I am going to try for my very first Giant Pumpkin next year (God willing and the creek don't rise...)

10/10/2013 2:56:28 PM

Farming- a bunch of catastrophies that result in a lifestyle

I don't know whether to laugh or cry....possibly both.

10/10/2013 5:12:18 PM