Partnering With Fungi

Pholiotina sp.

Why is partnering with Fungi so essential in the garden? These photos are just the tip of the iceberg when we look at Fungi; the part we see in these pictures is what is familiar to us but only show us a small portion of what is going on underground; these structures we see are called fruiting bodies.

The real magic of Fungi is the unseen underground networks called hyphae. Fungi do a lot of the heavy lifting under the ground for our plants in our gardens, with their mycelial networks breaking down complex minerals and compounds for the plants.

Russula sp.

Plants and fungi have co-evolved for Millions of years, and both are essential to each existence. These cooperative relationships are astounding in their complexity yet simple.

To emphasize the importance of these relationships, plants will secrete 5–21% of the photosynthetic energy in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, and secondary metabolites into the soil environment to propagate the microorganisms in the soil; this action is known as root exudates (Badri et al., 2013).

Actinomyces sp. This species is commonly mistaken as fungi hypae this is actually a type of benfical bacteria that breaks down lignin in woody material.

For plants to form these partnerships with fungi, they require a whole functioning ecosystem we call the soil food web that is made up of protozoa, nematodes, microarthropods, worms and beetles, all essential to having healthy plants by cycling nutrients to both the plants and fungi.

The mulch in our gardens of varying particle sizes is critical for feeding and protecting these species and keeps the cycles moving for our plants.

Keep growing,

Gavin.