A must-read handbook for organic gardeners and small-scale growers.
Thanks to research conducted over the last few decades, we know that
most plants get a significant portion of their nutrients by attracting
endophytic bacteria--bacteria that live inside a plant's cells. Through
a complex process, plant cells harvest the nitrogen and other nutrients
in a bacterium's cell wall and expel the bacterium's protoplasts back
into the soil where they rebuild their cell walls, start feeding again,
and repeat the cycle. Interesting, you may think, but why does this
matter? As it turns out, it matters a lot. The bottom line is this:
without endophytic bacteria, plants get fewer nutrients and cannot
develop properly.
Teaming with Bacteria not only explains the rhizophagy cycle; it shows
you how to harness this amazing process to increase productivity and
plant health. In addition, endophytic bacteria increase a plant's
tolerances to abiotic and biotic stresses and controlling pathogens.
This is exactly what we need if we are to deal effectively with climate
change, soil loss, and feeding a rapidly burgeoning population.
Gardeners, farmers, and other growers must adjust best practices--and
develop new ones--to ensure that the rhizophagy cycle can operate at its
most efficient pace and that the right endophytic bacteria can do what
they are supposed to do.
Just as Teaming with Microbes introduced gardeners and growers to the
soil food web, Teaming with Bacteria adds to that science by sharing
the latest research on endophytic bacteria (bacteria that live inside
plants) and rhizophagy (plants "eating" bacteria)--discoveries that have
profound implications for the practices of home gardeners and
small-scale growers.
