Soil microbes, a not so small point!

There are 5 different types of soil microbes. Each of these microbe types has a different job to boost soil and plant health and one cannot live without the other.

• Bacteria – The crucial workforce of the soil. They are the final stage of breaking down nutrients and releasing them to the root zone for the plant.
• Actinomycets – While some actinomycets are predators and will harm the plant, others will act as an antibiotic for the plant.
• Fungi – Like bacteria, fungi also lives in the rootzone and helps make nutrients available to plants. For example, Mycorrhizae is a fungi that facilitate water and nutrient uptake by the roots and plants to provide sugars, amino acids and other nutrients.
• Protozoa – Larger microbes that love to consume and be surrounded by bacteria. In fact, nutirents that are eaten by bacteria are realeased when protozoa in turn eat the bacteria.
• Nematodes – Microscopic worms that live around or inside the plants. Some nematodes are predators while others are beneficial, eating pathogenic nematodes and secreting nutrients for the plants.