That 164 pounds of wood, bark, and roots arose from water alone. Growing five different plants in separate containers of 40 pounds of soil each would have provided replication . There were no controls in the original experiment. Having a container of soil with no plant would have looked at problems of leaching of soil from water, and dust accumulation 3. Hard to do, huh.
Some roots break, some soil sticks.
Let s look at what nutrients are needed by plants to grow, and where we believe plants obtain these nutrients. Plant Nutrients and their functions Let s think about these nutrients from the standpoint of their physiologic function and their source. There are many other cases where micororganisms are important in plant nutrition also. Auxin produced by fungus stimulates this translocation. You can purchase spores of VAM fungi, or can collect soil from under well-established plants in nature on dry sites or mediocre soils.