Plants designed to feed on poop of micro-predators, not fertilizers.

Arcella and another testate amoeba under microscope (400X)

You probably heard that plant roots can take up inorganic soluble nutrients (e.g. nitrates, phosphates) directly from soil by diffusion. Sounds awesome, but it’s only half of the truth successfully exploited by fertilizer companies. The other half is that plants intentionally attract and grow massive amounts of bacteria and fungi around the root surfaces, and […]