Interview with Xtreme Gardening on Azos and Mykos Mycorrhizae

Hey everyone, Nate from GrowersHouse here today we have with us Dan the Man from Xtreme Gardening stopping in and hes going to tell us a little bit about Xtreme Gardening as a company and what they offer. So tell us a little bit about Xtreme Gardening and how it came about.



Dan- Xtreme Gardening started in 2006 when a giant pumpkin grower started using our mycorrhizae to start growing giant pumpkins and he actually broke the world record that year using our mycorrhizae (1,502 lbs). We saw some opportunity in giant pumpkins and lawn and garden and then the hydro industry with the biological components to gardening. The parent company of Xtreme Gardening is RTI Reforestation Technologies International, we are about 20 years old now. In the early nineties the owner started playing with mycorrhizae and with a few other people, scientists, figure out how to commercially produce mycorrhizae so that it could be packaged in a usable format for forestry projects. Alot of what they were doing at the time was restoration from forest fires and restoring native habitats. We are close to Big Sur and there are alot of landslides there so when they put the hillsides back together mycorrhizae is a big component for that. They needed a commercial system to be able to produce the volume needed to do so. That is how we got started. We've been culturing mycorrhizae for 18 years now.



Nate- Are you guys one of the biggest producers of mycorrhizae in the nation?



Dan- Absolutely yes. Well possibly. I don't know of any other producers growing one million pounds of mycorrhizae a year.



Nate- That's alot



Dan- It's a few acres and some knowledge and some time. People think this is easy to do and it really is not. Creating just the right environment for the fungus is something that can't be done overnight.



Nate- What kind of growers can use your products, of the Xtreme Gardening line?



Dan- Just about any kind, everybody can use it. Hydro, coco, soil. If you're in a coco or soil media its doesn't matter what kind of system you're in, you can get the mykos right into the root system when you're transplanting. When you're potting up, put in a scoop of the mycos right where you are going to set the root ball of the plant and that's pretty much it. You may want some reapplication of the soluble, we have a wettable powder version of the mycos that you can mix with water and it will penetrate down media for a reapplication. But the most important step is to start out with putting the granules into the soil first before transplanting and at potting.



Nate- So is that even for a clone or a seedling grown in something like a wool cube? Transplanting to veg and then veg into flower?



Dan- Yes. When I'm doing seeds ill even make a little bed of mykos and put my seed in that and cover it with soil. Or if its in a plug or cube, fill the plug hole with mykos then put in my seed in there. So once the seed sprouts its instantly in touch with the mycorrhizae. As soon as you can get your plant to begin its symbiotic association with the mycorrhizae the better off your plant will be.



Nate- Is that because the plant really benefits the most from the mycorrhizae when the plant is young from seedling to veg?



Dan- Absolutely. In flowering phase it may not be as important, the more beneficial is to get it in there from start to flowering.



Nate- That is so when you do go into flower, you get the most out of your plant?



Dan- Yes



Nate- So what about the Azos? What does that do?



Dan- Azos you apply the same time as mycos, when you're transplanting dust the root ball with Azos, you can also mix it with the mycos in the planting hole. I prefer to lightly sprinkle it on my roots, put the mycos in the hole. You can also use the Azos for rooting cuttings as well, we've seen a really good rate of success when mixing the azos in to a bit of a paste or thick solution and dipping cuttings into that. Azos is a bacteria known as a nitrogen fixer that can capture n02 out of the atmosphere and convert it to nh3 and provide it to the plant. It wont do it for all plant species it works well on legumes, corn, peas, lentils stuff like that but in our marketplace the bigger benefit of azos is that it has a kind of trigger with the plant that encourages it to increase and produce more natural growth hormones. Its amino acid production is increased by this bacteria that you get a natural rooting hormone stimulated by the bacteria. Where alot of rooting product on the market are endo3 amino acid which is a man made version of hormone. So our Azos is naturally stimulating the rooting hormones, you don't need to use harsh chemicals to root your cuttings. And with Azos your cuttings will stay alot healthier, such as the yellowing and the wilting you get when you get the stress. I've seen this a lot, I also hear a lot "My cuttings are now green and lush!" because they didn't stress out all. And the success rate is huge.



Nate- If you were doing a hydro systems how would you use your products?



Dan- Are we talking dwc or aeroponics?



Nate- Lets say I'm using a turboklone cloner to make some clones but also sometimes clone just in a tray with like rapid rooter plugs.





Dan- For your turboklone, you simply add one teaspoon per gallon right into the reservoir and that'll be it. you can also make a solution and dip the cuttings into it before inserting them into the neoprene inserts. For a tray with plugs make a dip and soak your cuttings with that, while they are soaking I would prep my plugs with a bowl of water and a scoop of Azos and i would inoculate my plugs that way with the Azos solution and then insert my plugs as usual.



Nate- So its really best to be using both Azos and Mycos together in conjunction with one another?



Dan- I generally reserve Mycos for once my cuttings are rooted, once they're coming out of the cloner you've got your rooted cutting then ill start using the mykos. Same with the plugs, once they are ready and I'm going to plant them up into another container that's when I will bring the mycos in. Because the mycorrhizae cant do anything for the plant until the plant has roots. It has to form an association with the roots first so putting Mykos in before the plant has roots is not going to add any benefit to the plant (but can help speed up establishing the mykos in the media so it is ready for the plant). Always be sure to dust the roots with the azos get em coated with the mykos and you are good to go.



Nate- Xtreme Gardening mykos and Azos are both available here at Growers House check them out today to help increase your yield and help make your grow more efficient. Thanks Dan. Have a good one.