What Are Microbes and Do You Need Them in Your Garden?
Microbes play an essential role in suppressing plant pathogens and providing healthy soil biology. They do this by feeding on nitrogen and decomposing organic matter, cycling nutrients, thus fertilizing your garden's soil. When Microbes die off, they release crucial nutrients that your plants need in order to grow. Billions of bacterial cells inhabit each gram of soil in your plant's rhizosphere (the area in and around your plant's roots.) so it's important to pay careful attention to microbes and their benefits to your garden.
When discussing soil and gardening, there are five different types of microbes living in your soil: bacteria, fungi, algae, actinomycetes, and protozoa.
Actively beneficial bacteria (and the most common in MMJ gardening) include Bacillus spp and fungi such as Penicillium spp, Gliocladium virens and several Trichoderma spp. Here at Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients we use both Bacillus spp and Penicillium spp in our organic Bioactive Humates and Biophos Bonanza plant nutrient products.