I agree with you Artemetsia Bloom, about the effects of some rotation on mushroom inoculants and I wished there was more studies on natural ways to promote them. I have previously worked on the development of Mycorrhize in it's early stages and attended over 100 experiments in fields with various grasses, plants and trees. In general with mushroom compost there is a percentage of effectiveness that is noticeable but not extraordinary. most of our experiments were done by planting multiple rows consisting of natural (I-E nothing added), fertilised using something like 20-20-20, with inoculation and another one using both fertilizers and Mycorrhize. and analysing the differences between them. honestly most of the time I could not tell them apart by looking at them. At first the product was produced as a white and pink pallet form or a gel and then later on was transformed into a dirt looking substance.
The thing that frustrates me is that they rarely give the whole description of ingredients that are mixed. Of course there is mushroom spores or dormant forms of bacteria that are natural, but there is also a wide list of ingredients that are not listed, as soil preparation agents, wetting agents, mushroom growing agents, that are rarely natural or organic. The company is able to get their organic labelling because these agents are not directly acting on the plants but helps the mushroom to develop itself. The USDA has been removing some of their labels in the last few years but there is not much research done on this subject. With the company refusing to give away their recipe to the permies, it makes it hard to know if you are in fact using a non-organic product in disguise. deceiving.
99% of the products out there uses a fungus that grows naturally on peat moss. This is why I use it in my soil today.
Another good source of natural fungi is compost brew. The best one I know being a stinging nettle brew I found in a biodynamic book. It can considerably act on the decomposition of other organic substance. Other source of beneficial bacteria can be found in manure, especially well rotted liquid manures.
Molasses is great too.
