Although it might sound like we’re veering into science fiction territory, the endosphere is actually part of a plant’s microbiome, like the rhizosphere and the phyllosphere. It is the community of microbes which live inside the plant itself – that is, between and in its cells. It’s only in the last few decades that research […] Read more… >
The phyllosphere is the community of microbes which live in and on a plant’s leaves. I had no idea that this even existed before writing the section for this website about the microbiome. Of course, if you think about it for a microsecond, it must! Our world has more microbes than anything else by several […] Read more… >
(Thanks to Dr. Karen O’Hanlon of Probio Carbon for answering some of my questions about biochar). Biochar is a product which has been advertised as a beneficial component of bonsai soil over recent years. So what exactly is it? Biochar is basically charcoal which has been “produced from organic waste using pyrolysis technology under temperatures […] Read more… >
Most bonsai trees progress through stages of development, each with a different objective. In general the progression is thicken trunk -> achieve branch & root structure -> achieve branch, foliage & root ramification -> reduce leaf size -> evolve as branches grow/fall off. The faster we can move through the first few development stages, the […] Read more… >
I had never heard of root exudates before creating this website, but in fact their production is so important to plants that they “invest up to 20–40% of their photosynthetically fixed C”ref in this process. Root exudates are basically substances created by root cells and sent out into the nearby environment – known as the […] Read more… >
Roots exist in a their own ecosystem along with soil, chemical compounds, microorganisms and variations in pH, humidity and temperature. This environment is known as the ‘rhizosphere’, a term created by Lorenz Hiltner in 1904, using the greek word for root ‘rhiza’. The term refers to the area around the roots, and is broken into […] Read more… >
The roots of your tree are *just* as important as the above-ground parts, with a lot of responsibilities which aren’t immediately obvious. I’ve summarised the main ones here but there is a lot more detail in separate posts with links provided below. So why are roots so important? Points 1 and 2 are fundamental to […] Read more… >
It has been known for over a century that tree roots are colonised with microbes, particularly fungi, but it’s only in the last twenty-five years or so that this idea has captured the public imagination, with Suzanne Simard’s discovery that trees can actually communicate and share resources via their fungal networks.ref Of course, our knowledge […] Read more… >