US 12,133,486 B2
Methods of propagation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and uses thereof
Stephen Earl Williams, Laramie, WY (US)
Assigned to Terra Microbes, LLC, Laramie, WY (US)
Filed by Terra Microbes, LLC, Laramie, WY (US)
Filed on Sep. 18, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/369,797.
Application 18/369,797 is a continuation of application No. 17/691,039, filed on Mar. 9, 2022, granted, now 11,758,854.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/275,886, filed on Nov. 4, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0000025 A1, Jan. 4, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A01G 18/10 (2018.01); A01G 11/00 (2006.01); A01G 18/20 (2018.01)
CPC A01G 18/10 (2018.02) [A01G 11/00 (2013.01); A01G 18/20 (2018.02)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of growing and/or improving the growth of plants obligatively or facultatively dependent on arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) by growing the plants in soil comprising an active population of AMF spores, wherein the soil is produced by a process, which comprises:
a) providing a first soil;
b) killing living plant material in the first soil by applying one or more plant killing procedures to the first soil;
c) providing an active culture comprising the population of AMF spores in a first location;
d) adding phosphorous as phosphate and/or phosphite to the first soil;
e) amending the first soil with the population of active AMF the spores to yield an AMF-amended soil that comprises about 2 to about 10 active AMF spores per gram of the first soil;
f) incubating the AMF-amended soil for several days to several months under conditions conducive to AMF spore propagation, wherein the conditions conducive to AMF spore propagation comprise:
adding water to the soil,
and optionally
exposing the soil to light, and then
g) planting one or more of the plants in the AMF-amended soil,
wherein the active AMF spores propagate during incubation thereby producing AMF-amended soil comprising about three-fold more active AMF spores per gram of the soil than provided in step e),
wherein during steps a) through f), no living plant material is amended to the first soil.