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Guava and bitter gourd fertility greatly increased, Trichoderma helps decompose, plants grow new roots

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Not just guava, even bitter gourd fertility greatly increased! Trichoderma helps decompose, plants grow new roots

(Continued from previous article) The guava tree's nemesis - root-knot nematodes cause tree decline and severe fruit drop, resulting in massive losses for farmers. The Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station developed a Trichoderma inoculation of spent mushroom substrate, which can produce compost containing large amounts of actinomycetes, simultaneously providing fertilizer efficacy and actinomycetes, at a low price with even better results.

Shetou guava farmer Xiao Chengqia has been growing guava for over 11 years, and also had a large number of fruit trees on the verge of death due to root-knot nematodes. After starting to use Trichoderma-enriched fertilizer last year, significant improvement was achieved within half a year, with a 0.3-hectare plot yielding over 30,000 jin of guava. Xiao Chengqia also said: "The tree that was originally the most severely diseased, after fertilizing, actually produced over 300 jin of guava from just one tree!"

Shetou guava farmer Xiao Chengqia 2 (photo by Lin Yijun)

Nutrients are easily absorbed, plants re-develop new roots

Xiao Chengqia pointed to the fertilizer bags under the tree and said: "Usually two bags of fertilizer are applied per tree. Before fertilizing, the fertilizer bags are placed at the base of the guava tree to help keep warm and retain moisture." Moving the fertilizer bags aside revealed a layer of black humus underneath. Chen Junwei added: "The fertilizer bags have weight, and this weight can retain moisture and also accelerate the decomposition of fallen leaves, weeds, etc. underneath, becoming nutrients that crops can easily absorb."

Brushing aside the surface layer of compost and soil, new fibrous roots of the guava tree were visible. Chen Junwei said excitedly: "These are newly developed roots, called 'new roots' for short. Another major benefit of applying enriched fertilizer is that it rapidly stimulates the crop's own root system development, because Trichoderma has already decomposed nutrients into more easily absorbable forms. For example, this guava tree's roots have expanded along with the application locations, increasing contact area, accelerating the absorption of nutrients and water, and growing even better!"

In the soil of the farmer's field, Chen Junwei also discovered root segments that had weakened due to previous root-knot nematode invasion. Chen Junwei picked one up and gently peeled it, and the root segment split apart. He explained that root-knot nematode invasion damages the tree's root system function of transporting nutrients and water, causing it to become brittle. In addition, plants are like people - when weakened, pathogens and pests take advantage of the situation. Trichoderma can decompose humus for actinomycetes to feed on, allowing actinomycetes to decompose root-knot nematodes, greatly reducing the chance of invasion. The plant itself also becomes healthy due to sufficient nutrition, enabling it to resist pest and disease attacks.

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