Shrub Doctor talks about bacteria and fungi. What role does bacteria have in the health of my plants?
Bacteria are everywhere. They play a crucial role in all life, especially plants. Bacteria are microscopic. 250,000 to 500,000 would fit inside the period at the end of this sentence. Over 1 billion bacteria can live in the soil that fill this spoon. So what role do they play with plant health? Bacteria primarily decompose organic matter. They break up organic matter into small pieces and then transport these through their cell membrannes, ready to be used by the plant. Bacteria hold the nitrogen, oxgen, and all the micro-nutrients right around the rootzone, ready to be absorbed by the plant.
There are beneficial bacteria, ones that bring nutrients to the rootzone, And their are pathogenic bacteria that eat away at the tissues of the roots and plant. Root rot of your plants is an example of where pathogenic bacteria, capable of living in wet, anaerobic soil are able to re-produce. The beneficial bacteria cannot thrive, so the bad bacteria takes over and eats the roots of the plant. A simple solution to this problem would be to monitor watering habits.
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