Get 16% more yield - with microbes!
The popularity of using microbes in growing has been exploding recently as cultivators are increasingly turning to microbial technologies to enhance plant health, quality and yield. More and more, growers have been realising the advantages of inoculating their root zones with beneficial bacteria and fungi in their soil, coco, and hydroponics practices.
Beneficial microbes create a very different rhizosphere than a sterile one. They help create a healthy root environment which is much closer to that which a plant would encounter out in nature. There's a whole host of benefits to doing this. The plant develops complex relationships with the so-called "micro herd" surrounding its roots. The neighbouring bacteria and fungi pass food and water to the plant roots while also protecting them from pathogens. To summarise:
- They improve plant physiology / metabolism by making nutrients more bioavailable for plant uptake.
- They help protect plants against pathogens by creating a physical layer limiting potential infection sites along the rhizosphere
- They stimulate plant immune response through chemical signalling
Adopting beneficial microbes into cultivation management practices is a very effective way to facilitate higher levels of nutrient cycling within the root zone (also referred to as the rhizosphere) which maximizes the plants’ potential to naturally take up more nutrients compared to sterile environments. Unfortunately, in recent years, growers have often experienced compatibility issues when using microbes - because not all microbes are compatible across a wide range of cultivation practices.
Coming from the origins of research at Colorado University, there's now a new type of microbial additive - a fully fledged microbial bloom enhancer that has been shown to increase yields by 16%, and sometimes even more! The microbes in Mammoth P, produced by Growcentia was developed by 3 PhD Soil Microbiologists. They are highly compatible with all grow mediums and almost all plant types. They achieve the extra 16% yield by making phosphorous far more available for uptake by plant roots.
It all began with the problem of feeding the world!
The story of Mammoth P began in 2013. It had been recognised that the world's population was increasing, and that sustainably growing enough food to keep everyone fed was at some point going to be a problem. Colorado University concerned itself with finding ways to make farming more productive. By going out and speaking to farmers themselves, they discovered that there was a common farming problem - the phosphorous availability in farm soil.
The phosphorous problem
When most soils are fed with a phosphorous containing fertiliser, about 70% to 80% of that phosphorous becomes immediately unavailable. It gets locked into the soil and plant roots cannot absorb or use it.
Microbes - the key to the solution
Colorado University discovered that some soils were better at allowing phosphorous to be available to plant roots than others. So they gathered up samples of the better soils and began looking into why this would be the case. They concluded that it came down to the strains and numbers of certain bacteria that resided with in it.
Following on from that, they began a highly complex testing and selection programme. This involved 4 particular strains of bacteria that they had discovered that literally "liberate" the unavailable phosphorous in soil. They work together synergistically to allow plant roots to absorb the previously unavailable phosphorous in the root zone.
The strains were as follows:
- Pseudomonas putida
- Camamonas testosteroni
- Citrobacter freundii
- Enterobacter cloacae
They then propagated these strains using selective breeding over many, many generations using tomato plants to test phosphorous availability. Each time they inoculated soil with a new generation, they would grow new tomato plants in it and then use the most successful soil (which grew the most/highest quality tomatoes) to select out the most active of the bacteria for how well they released phosphorous. These they then re-propagated and inoculated into more soil samples.
After years of doing this, they had bred and developed 4 "super-strains" of bacteria that were far superior to the original generations at cycling phosphorous to plant roots. In fact, around 30 times better! These super-strains were then used to create Mammoth P. Trial after trial showed that Mammoth P greatly increased phosphorous availability in soil, consequently increasing the yield and quality of farmed crops.
Releasing Mammoth P to the world
The first bottle of Mammoth P went on sale in a shop in Colorado in 2015. Since then, hundreds and hundreds of shops have started stocking it. Demand for it has exploded as there are ever-increasing amounts of gardeners that have discovered the wonders that Mammoth P delivers. Mammoth P is the first purpose made microbial-action bloom booster to hit the market. And it really does work!
Mammoth P has been tested by the Oregon State Department for Agriculture and they have confirmed that it contains what is stated on the label:
- Pseudomonas putida..............20,000,000 CFU/ml
- Camamonas testosteroni........40,000,000 CFU/ml
- Citrobacter freundii.................60,000,000 CFU/ml
- Enterobacter cloacae..............80,000,000 CFU/ml
Mammoth P also contains Alfalfa meal as a food source for the microbes. As an additional bonus, alfalfa also contains some triacontanol - a great plant booster and de-stressor!
Over the generations, these strains of microbe have become highly resilient to environmental stress. They can be refrigerated and even frozen, and the Colony Forming Units will remain viable in the unopened bottle for at least 2 years, and for at least 12 months after opening. Just be sure not to contaminate the bottle with anything! The microbes in Mammoth P are resilient to environmental stress and are highly functional in a wide range of pHs and temperatures. They continue to work optimally in a pH range of between 5 and 9, and in temperatures between 0C to 40C.
How to use Mammoth P -
Mammoth P can be used in any substrate, be it soil, coco or even in clay pebbles to great effect! You just make up your reservoir nutrient solution or feed water as normal and then add the recommended dose of Mammoth P. Of course, there is no point adding it if you are using any sterilisation products such as Pythoff or Silver Bullet Roots, as these products will actively kill off the microbes.
Mammoth P is very highly concentrated - a little goes a long way! The dosage for hydroponics is 0.16 ml/litre. For soil, the dosage needs to be higher. Just like in a field, phosphorous becomes unavailable in soil very quickly. It takes a higher dosage of Mammoth P to liberate the phosphorous than it does in a soilless medium. For this reason Soil growers need to use it at 0.16ml/litre in veg to begin with and then increase this gradually during bloom/fruiting to 1.06ml/litre during the peak weeks.
It is important to reapply it weekly in order to maintain colony numbers and maintain its effectiveness.
Try Mammoth P today and discover the gains that it can deliver for you!
