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[geezer]

I'm enjoying The Stone Eaters lately. Great text. The author is clearly playing 3D chess while I'm playing checkers.

He makes as good an argument as any I've read that the symbiosis of bacteria, fungi, and plant roots are a significant part of the health of the plant - not that it's an arguable point.

But it got me thinking about what happens in the cactus pots when I bring them in for the winter. They spend a minimum of 4 1/2 months in the basement up here in the frosty north.

In that time would we expect the biota to die, go dormant, get sickly, or continue as best it can without being watered?

And what's the best way to get it quickly re-awakened in the spring when the pots go back outside?

[eye of ibad]

I don't think anything would die in the circumstance. The mycorrhizal fungi will survive as long as the plant roots survive. The bacteria would also likely survive. A large portion of the important ones are spore formers ie bacillus etc so they can survive anything.

You can wake up the microbiota by simply adding water (and heat ie bring the temp of the soil up above 60 degrees F). If you really want to charge it up add any or all of the following ingredients:

molasses
kelp
humic acid
fulvic acid

any organic materials

You get the idea. Fungi tend to like carbon and bacteria tend to like nitrogen, but both will get everything chugging along.

Also actively aerated compost teas tend to be very popular these days which can be combined with any of the other ingredients I mentioned.

[Lukas123]

Are you sure the mycorrhiza survives?
I saw somewhere, dont remeber if forum post or video, that the mycorrhiza died in the pots when the soil was very dry.
I concluded that it was no use to add mycorrhiza to catus type plants as the soil gets periodically very dry.

I might be wrong about this as im no expert, maybe just a part of the mycorrhiza dies off when the soil gets dry.
This would be very intresting to know if any of you are good at these things.

[geezer]

What would be hurt by innoculating with mycorrhyza during the non-dry season?