The Actinovate and BiotaMax are both products that contain beneficial fungi and bacterial that are intended to prey on the disease causing fungi and bacteria in the soil. Just as people eat yogurt, kefir, and buttermilk to re-establish beneficial gut bacterial to treat an upset stomach, these soil probiotics help plants fight off diseases. I keep trying to imagine the interactions between either of these with the Myco-Grow. It sort of reminds me of the old story of Satchel Page about a thermos bottle keeping liquids either hot or cold. "How to it know?" Part of my brains says the microbes in the Actinovate and BiotaMax will prey on the mycorrhizal fungi in the MycoGrow that we want to get established in the soil. On the other hand, the MycoGrow contains many of these same microbes in addition to the mycorrhizal fungi, so they must play well together. While I've already bored everybody besides you to sleep with the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi to a plant's roots, these other microbes play different but equally important roles in the health of the soil and plants. Just as lady bugs, lacewing larvae, and praying mantis come in like the calvary to eat the aphids, spider mites, and thrips, these soil probiotics fill a simlar role. They will kill off the bad bacteria and fungi that cause plant disease such as Damping off, Powdery Mildew, Verticillium, Fusarium, Black Spot, Rusts, Fire Blight, and Phytophthora root rots and blights. It's difficult to say anything for sure since the ingredients of the products don't give you any idea of how much of the microbes are included, only which ones are included. My hunch from reading over the info on all three products is that the Myco-Grow contains almost everything that is in both of the other two plus having the Mycorrhizal fungi. The Actinovate only has one strain of bacteria, so I'm guessing the BiotaMax will do more good than the Activovate. The Myco-Grow contains: Endomycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices, Glomus mosseae, Glomus aggregatum, Glomus clarum, Glomus deserticola, Glomus etunicatum, Gigaspora margarita, Gigaspora brasilianum, Gigaspora monosporum Ectomycorrhizal fungi Rhizopogon villosullus, Rhizopogon luteolus, Rhizopogon amylopogon, Rhizopogon fulvigleba, Pisolithus tinctorius, Laccaria bicolor, Laccaria laccata, Scleroderma cepa, Scleroderma citrinum, Suillus granulatas, Suillus punctatapies Trichoderma fungi Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma konigii Beneficial Bacteria Bacillus subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus azotoformans, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus pumlis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus stearothermiphilis, Paenibacillus polymyxa, Paenibacillus durum, Paenibacillus florescence, Paenibacillus gordonae, Azotobacter polymyxa, Azotobacter chroococcum, Sacchromyces cervisiae, Streptomyces griseues, Streptomyces lydicus, Pseudomonas aureofaceans, Deinococcus erythromyxa ======================================================= The Biota Max Soil Probiotic contains fungi Trichoderma harzianum Trichoderma viride Trichoderma koningii Trichoderma polysporum bacteria Bacillus subtilis Bacillus laterosporus Bacillus licheniformus Bacillus megaterium Bacillus pumilus Paenibacillus polymyxa bacteria for fixing nitrogen ======================================================= Actinovate contains only Streptomyces lydicus bacteria ======================================================= You said you had 10 tomato plants. I'm assuming that means 5 Earthtainers, so for a good experiment I would suggest the following: One with no probiotcs added One with MycoGrow only One with BiotaMax only One with MycoGrow and BiotaMax One with MycoGrow and Actinovate My newest topic I'm reading research on is using Aspirin as a soil drench and foliar spray to help plants fight diseases and stress. I'll post something when I find enough to indicate whether it's a fad or fact.

The evidence that artificially added Mycorrhizal fungi help is a bit shaky. It clearly plays a role in the wild, but at this point no one really knows how to process mycorrhizal fungi, or quite what to use. If you are growing a tree that also grows in the wild, there is a school of thought that taking some dirt from around where a tree grows wild in the woods and mixing it in with the soil you use when you plant a tree of that species in your yard would help...It has all the bacteria and fungi the wild plant was using as symbionts. Not sure if that would work with carrots...but Queen Anne's Lace grows wild and is related to carrots, right? Compost probably provides food for many kinds of helpful fungi.

Sorry I don't recall it was a few years ago. About 5 years ago a consumer product was out for one season, and one season only. Territorial Seed sold it. The proper bacteria for blueberries. I checked, and it was in there. I used it on all of my blueberries. I have 11 different plants right now. When I add new ones I take some soil from around these older plants. My oldest is 7 years old. Blueberries have a type of mycorrhizial association called ericoid mycorrhizae, typically fungi of the genus Hymenoscypus or Rhizoscyphus, and most typically Rhizoscyphus ericae Which you will not find in the common products. Most list what bacteria they have, Rhizoscyphus ericae will not be there.

"What a bunch of baloney. The manufacturers have 'created the demand' for another product. It's amazing how anything flourished before the latest brainwashing. These fungal spores are everywhere despite what the sales reps preach." I don't see how this adds much to the learning experience this site should IMO be promoting. It happens that lots of university studies have determined that adding Mychorrizal seem to help trees at very least. It seems well established that vegs and fruit plants are benefitted by them as well. I don't believe that all Mycos have above ground fruiting bodies and maybe do not reproduce by airborn spores. While it is indeed possible that a plants root could meander into the specific fungi spore that could colonize its roots this is probably not likely. Hey Pablo nh, I read that web site you linked to and if I'm not mistaken the study was refering to high phos soils. I have also read that high phos soils are not as conducive to myco growth as they are not as necessary. And the corn that was continuiosly recropped indicated to me that perhaps the corn /fungi were appropiate to each other therefore were there in larger numbers through multiple cropping of the same species. I also wonder if the compost added fields were tilled therby reducing living fungi. Thats my take anyway. What do you think if you don't dismiss this topic out of hand? Tim