Ep. 53: Mycorrhizal Planet - How Symbiotic Fungi Support Plant Health and Build Soil Fertility (feat. Michael Phillips)

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the good fortune to be joined by Michael Phillips. Michael is a farmer, writer, carpenter, orchard consultant, and speaker who lives with his wife, Nancy, and daughter, Grace, on Heartsong Farm in northern New Hampshire. On the farm, they grow apples and a variety of medicinal herbs. Michael’s orchard, poetically dubbed Lost Nation Orchard, is part of the Holistic Orchard Network, and he also leads the community orchard movement at groworganicapples.com. He is the author of The Apple Grower, The Holistic Orchard, and teamed up with his wife to write The Herbalist’s Way. While all these works are milestones in regenerative orcharding and permaculture farming practices, we’re going to focus on his most recent work, the paradigm-shifting and mind-blowing Mycorrhizal Planet. More than just a celebration of the incredible mycorrhizosphere, this book makes you appreciate the complex ecosystem that is soil and how interactions at the microbial level on up effect everything that is birthed from a patch of Earth. This book will make you see your own lawn or garden as a complex ecosystem, awash in organic processes that, with the proper understanding and techniques, you can facilitate to build healthier soil, teeming with mycorrhizal fungi.

Topics Covered:

• Microorganisms in the Soil & The Underground Economy
• Endo and Ecto Mycorrhizal Fungi
• Mycelium Transport Networks
• Rudolph Steiner
• Complex Intelligence of Nature
• Plant Nutrients & Plant Metabolism
• Non-Disturbance Principle
• Importance of Cover Crops
• Ramial Chipped Wood & Hügelkultur
• Mycorrhizal Diversity & Plant Quorum Sensing
• Using Beneficial Fungi in Our Farms, Gardens & Potted Plants
• Farming Mycorrhizal Fungi
• Nancy’s Influence & the Herbal Husband

Episode Resources:

• Holistic Orchard Network (Website): http://groworganicapples.com/
• Mycorrhizal Planet (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Mycorrhizal-Planet-Symbiotic-Support-Fertility/dp/160358658X
• Rudolf Steiner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner