@ZoomyCat Recharge works in many different ways to keep your plants healthy in any growing media. Plants can’t eat food like animals for protein. Plants make their own fuel with help from microbes. These microbes play the most significant role in organic plant nutrition. The food web starts with much larger organisms but they don’t form a direct symbiotic relationship with roots like the bacteria and fungi in Recharge. Plants use sunlight to create sugar for energy. Roots secrete some of these sugars to feed beneficial bacteria and fungi. The bacteria and fungi consume sugars and other organic matter in the media. The microbes process the organic matter full of minerals unavailable to plant roots and release the minerals in a form roots can uptake. The kelp and molasses in Recharge provides an immediate food source for the microbes that’s full of trace minerals and plant hormones.

Bacillus bacteria: Bacillus licheniformis, pumilus, subtilis and megaterium are the bacteria found in Recharge. The Bacillus colonies form a thin bio-film on the roots to decompose dead roots, produce organic acids, proteins and enzymes as well as being mobile mineral storage. The organic acids bacteria create also help regulate pH around the roots. These bacteria are rewarded with sugars from the roots. These sugars mix with minerals, salts and other organic matter for the bacteria to consume and release back as available nutrition in any media.

Endomycorrhizal fungi: Mycorrhizal fungi in Recharge also form a symbiotic relationship directly with roots. There are endomycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi, endomycorrhizal penetrate the roots of plants with their hyphae while the ectomycorrhizal grow only on the surface of roots. Only endomycorrhizal fungi can form a relationship with cannabis. Glomus species of endomycorrhizal fungi are what’s in Recharge. Glomus aggregatum, Glomus mosseae, Rhizophagus irregularis (formerly Glomus intraradices) and Glomus etunicatum. Fungi provide structure, protection, water and minerals. The vegetative body of fungi is called mycelium. Mycelium forms thin, hair-like filaments called hyphae to help decompose leaves and other organic matter. The hyphae can also penetrate or pass around a root’s outer cell layer to bring in more water and minerals directly into the root. Endomycorrhizal fungi release organic acids that dissolve phosphates and sulfates from organic matter to a form roots can uptake. The roots receive extra surface area and structure, water, minerals, vitamins and amino acids from fungi in exchange for carbon in the form of sugars.

Trichoderma fungi: Another type of beneficial fungi in Recharge called trichoderma doesn’t form a direct symbiotic relationship with the roots. These fungi are nature’s industrial decomposers. Trichoderma reesei and harzianum in Recharge will also combat pathogenic fungi. Trichoderma breaks down dead roots and other organic matter to sugar for bacteria and endomycorrhizal fungi to consume. Trichoderma reesei are capable of producing cellulase, an enzyme that converts cellulose into glucose sugar. Fungal colonies can be massive but bacteria are tiny. Bacteria are some of nature’s smallest mineral storage totes. They love to eat simple sugars like the glucose from the cellulose fungi are decomposing and at the same time consuming minerals too. They make a great team in Recharge.

Humic and Fulvic acids: Humic and Fulvic acids are organic claws that grab and hold trace minerals in your media. Humic and fulvic acids can break salt bonds like calcium phosphate. Even minerals attached to carbon like the calcium bicarbonate in our water. Humic acids are too large of a molecule to penetrate root cell walls but fulvic acids are small enough molecules to slip right in. This saves the plant energy by not relying on ion exchange. Great for foliar applications too.

Amino acids: Amino acids are the building blocks of life and the nitrogen cycle plays an important role in their creation. Amino acids build plant tissue by creating hormones, enzymes and proteins. Amino acids act as chemical messengers sending signals between cells. The amino acids in Recharge help the plant not have to make its own, using much less energy to grow. Bacteria and fungi along with all the other life in healthy soils create a diverse ecosystem capable of providing plants with all the necessary requirements for vigorous growth.

@ZoomyCat I don’t see any list of microbes for this product anywhere. For all we know it’s full of unbeneficial ecto-mycos. Their label is suspect to begin with. Mycorrhizal fungi does not become Mycorrhizae until the fungi has established a relationship with living roots.

@ZoomyCat Bacillus licheniformis, pumilus, subtilis and megaterium are in Recharge like I mentioned above. These are nitrogen solubilizing bacteria. They are not the same type of bacillus bacteria that produce toxins that kill fly larvae. Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI) found in mosquito dunks are not the microbes in Recharge.