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Washington State

We have been hearing from growers with concerns following the 6/11 post about common brands of mycorrhizal fungi being tested. Below is a response from Doctor Michael Amaranthus of Mycorrhizal Applications concerning that post. If anyone wants copies of the independent 3rd party tests that Dr. Mike speaks about can contact us at hollandsgiants@msn.com

Joel, RTI sent material to Western Labs and I talked with them and Western Labs about it. The report is totally bogus. RTI could have sent anything in. We caught them once sending raw clay for spore counts and calling it our material for a speced job. Here are examples of tests with our myco concentrate compared to other inoculums from labs including western labs to share with your customers. IN addition you will find attached third party published
research papers that used our material and found significant results. Ask RTI to provide such third party studies. Dr Mike

7/30/2009 5:08:20 PM

Breslau, Ontario, Canada

well well well...interesting

7/30/2009 5:36:19 PM

Salinas CA

Greetings,

RTI has never misrepresented our products or any of our competitors that we have sent to Western Labs or any other lab for testing. At the Niagara convention, I encouraged everyone to test material, not just other products but ours as well.

To clarify the incident in which Mycorrhizal Applications product was rejected from a restoration project in Lake Tahoe last year, it was not us that sent the sample for testing to Western Labs, it was the project manager. I product was test as well and met standards.

Bottom line, if you have concerns or issues about any mycorrhizal amendment, spend the $35.00 and have it tested. The process only takes about 100 mls or a half of a cup of product. If a 50 ml sample of Pumpkin Pro does not produce a spore count of 1500 spores or better, we will send you additional product to bring the content up to that level.

Hope this helps clarify the information.
It would be far better if everyone was honest and just a fun guy.

Neil

7/30/2009 6:17:50 PM

Salinas CA

Greetings,

RTI has never misrepresented our products or any of our competitors that we have sent to Western Labs or any other lab for testing. At the Niagara convention, I encouraged everyone to test material, not just other products but ours as well.

To clarify the incident in which Mycorrhizal Applications product was rejected from a restoration project in Lake Tahoe last year, it was not us that sent the sample for testing to Western Labs, it was the project manager. I product was test as well and met standards.

Bottom line, if you have concerns or issues about any mycorrhizal amendment, spend the $35.00 and have it tested. The process only takes about 100 mls or a half of a cup of product. If a 50 ml sample of Pumpkin Pro does not produce a spore count of 1500 spores or better, we will send you additional product to bring the content up to that level.

Hope this helps clarify the information.
It would be far better if everyone was honest and just a fun guy.

Neil

7/30/2009 6:18:15 PM

Joliet, IL

never tried rti so i have no idea how effective it is personally. but i can say with out a doubt that i endorse joels bio endo plus and can attribute it to better pumpkins the last 3 years from using it. i am sure rti is a great product based on the success of the east coast growers with it. i could never imagine joel holland placing his name on anything other than the best product out there...tested product..in regards to anything pumpkin or gardening related. hard to imagine a product topping all of its competitors by a couple thousand percent like the rti results showed. could be the result of one overly aggressive marketing man who stepped over the line. i would be offended if i was joel, but not overly concerned because many of the giant pumpkin growers know how to read betweens the lines.

7/30/2009 6:26:06 PM

Washington State

Thanks Shazzy, I appreciate your response. Also I documented in my 2008 DVD the testing of my pumpkin roots for endomycorrhizal colonization, which came in at 66%, with multiple species present. Anything over 30% is considered good. Actual microscopic pictures of the colonization are displayed.

Joel

7/30/2009 7:37:01 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

I am going strictly by my personal observations, and any outside influences can come into play here such as rainfall, temp., etc. My best results came from from using M-Roots which, I take it, is no longer available. I posted a photo a couple of years ago in my diary showing the explosion of root growth I got by using M-roots, my first year using a mycor product.

Since then, I have used Bio-Grow Endo Plus AND Pumpkin Pro. Neither compare to the results I got with M-Roots.

As I stated previously, I am no expert. Personal observation goes a long way with me.

7/30/2009 10:32:58 PM

Ontario, Canada.

I did blind testing studies last year at two independent labs using both RTI and Joels Bio endo. I sent roots of two plants using only one product or the other and labled them separately A, B, C & D in two sets of bags. I sent them out so only I knew the which was RTI and which was Bio Endo. I will not comment on the results but I would be willing to share the results with growers who email me. My results were surprising and should not be considered 100% accurate.

You need to be aware of the development stage of each plant and the application time of each product to confirm hyphae development, colonization and sporalization...In my case I tested each product and due to age and application variances there may have been some bias to one product or the other.

Although I was some what uncertain I made my mind up which product to use for this season...There are also so many environmental factors that can hinder each product they would spin your head a few turns.

What are the local soils conditions for each plant..Too much phos is not good for Myco so you have to be cautious when deciding which product may be better....

Joel and Neil are both great supporters of our community and readily help growers each time I have talked with them.
Its a very hard choice you have to make...

8/1/2009 9:46:16 AM

Long Island,New York

Is the choice/difference enough between the two products that we have to chose between the two or are the results similar enough to allow both research companies to continue on improving/researching and making advances in the science....?

8/1/2009 10:17:08 AM