A step forward - Myco Remediation

Because of the generosity of Mark @ Rhiba Farms in Phoenix I had some mycelium-rich material to run a test at a friend’s home in his vertical flow-thru vermicompost reactor designed by Dan Holcomb at OSC (Oregon Soil Company) and Dr. Clive A. Edwards an expert recognized around the world for his 60+ years as a entomologist specializing in vermiculture technologies.

Here is the worm bin on Day 1 of the inoculation...

Within 1 single day the entire surface of the worm bin was colonizing with the mycelium that we added.

One week later you can see the emerging results and any questions about worms and a hi-fungal colonies working hand-in-hand are shown in the photos from a week later.

How can we use this for our garden and container soils? We can take mediocre compost and increase it’s filth using fungi - a goal sought by composters around the world and promised by soil companies and never achieved. Can’t turn a turd into premium soil regardless of the label-building and marketing claims.

Then there’s the ability to take our potting soils after harvest and apply mycelium to degrade the roots and stalk and create a high-quality of humus meaning that this years soil will be far, far better next season and continuing into the future.

Unlike the protocols promoted by the ACT crowd, no fungicides are used in this process. The use of fungicides is a fool’s errand if the advertised goal is to increase fungi colonies - the ol’ we have to kill you to make you better.

An interesting ‘science’ to be sure.

We can use mycelium to speed-up the development of compost using ‘cold composting’ vs ‘thermal turn & burn’ methods that have proved to be challenging when coupled with poor science and protocols.