Hidden heroes

An astonishing 92% of plants form mutually beneficial relationships with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. David Whyte explores how this works, and how farmers, orchardists and gardeners can encourage and add these fungi to the soil for the benefit of plants, whether pasture species, trees or vegetables.

If someone said they had a fungal infection on their fruit trees, most people would assume the negative: brown rot, leaf curl or the feared silver leaf. However these pathogenic, destructive fungi are in a very small minority of fungi.

There are two large groups of fungi: the saprophytic and the mycorrhizal. Saprophytic is the fancy word for things that get energy from dead matter. Many fungi feed on wood chips, mulch, animal dung and other carbon sources, and break them down, making nutrients available to other plants. The fungi produce digestive enzymes from their cells; these enzymes then work away snipping up bits of the woody material. Some of this material is then absorbed