Several years ago on a phone call with Dr. Lynette Morgan we talked about many things and why in a soil system with active life how one wouldn't need to add enzymes as the bacteria are essentially creating it and whatnot...blah blah But anyways we got onto Trichoderma as I'd heard various things from various people and she told me that Trichoderma is good if you have something that is deadly or you really wanna kill but that it also is non selective and kills your other myco. You'll notice certain companies omitting Trichoderma from there powdered beneficial bacteria/myco blends and it is based on this belief.
Here is a copy and paste of a tiny bit of this article by Dr. Lynette Morgan:
Trichoderma compatibility with Mycorrhizal fungi
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AMF) fungi are another wide spread, naturally occurring soil micro organism
which forms a beneficial relationship with the roots of many plant species. Just as with Trichoderma
species, enhanced growth and disease suppression has been well documented with the use of
mycorrhizal fungi inoculated in the root zone of cropping plants (15) . Given that Trichoderma is such
a strong predator and competitor of other species of fungi in the root zone, there has been concern in
the past that negative interactions between Trichoderma and mycorrhizal inoculants could occur, thus
making one or both fungi inactive and therefore incompatible. While numerous scientific studies have
been carried out to determine if Trichoderma verses mycorrhizal antagonism does exist when both
are introduced to the root zone of certain plant species, conflicting results have been reported.
The problem identifying if this sort of interaction does occur is that in biological systems there are
multiple factors affecting the result. Not only are there many species of Trichoderma with different
characteristics and abilities to predate other fungi, but mycorrhizal fungi also contain a number of
species including Glomus claroideum, Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradicesGlomus geosporum.
Furthermore the conditions in which the fungi are introduced, the crop species tested, growing media,
presence of other microbial life and a host of other factors affect the result of fungal interactions.
While one study (Green et al, 1999) found that the Mycorrhizal fungi G. intraradices had an averse
effect on Trichoderma harzianum, yet another study (Martinez-Medina et al, 2009) reported that
combined inoculation with these two species provided better disease control results and a general
synergistic effect than other Mycorrhizal species tested. and
Many other studies have found a synergist effect when Trichoderma was use in combination with
certain species of Mycorrhizal fungi. It has been reported that dual inoculation of peat substrate with
a mixture of 4 species of Mycorrhizal fungi and Trichoderma harzianum showed a significant effect on
the growth and flowering of cyclamen plants (12), while another study found that more plant biomass
was produced in a peat-perlite mixture when the mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseaeTrichoderma
aureoviridae (13) . Other researchers have also reported that various microbial inoculants such as
Trichoderma and others showed no negative effects on Mycorrhizal establishment (14), while others
have reported that combinations of Mycorrhizal fungi species with Trichoderma harzianum and other
beneficial fungi have a synergistic effect and give greater increases in growth and disease resistance
when combined (15, 16, 17) . It has been suggested that the differing results reporting the influence of
Mycorrhizal fungi on other micro organisms is probably not only due to the combination and species
of Mycorrhizal fungi evaluated but also the conditions such as nutrient availability when the studies
were carried out (20) . was combined with
The bulk of the scientific evidence suggests however that the species of Trichoderma and Mycorrhiza
commonly used as inoculants in soil and hydroponics are compatible and potentially synergistic when
used in combination. Trichoderma and Mycorrhiza carry out different but potentially very beneficial
roles in the root zone of plants, involving not only protection from many pathogens, but also
nutritional and growth benefits.
and here is the pdf.
