Pisolithus arhizus inoculation for root stimulation?

Hey all! I'm new around here. I've been reading a ton of old posts and soaking up as much information as I can.

Our family is finally at a place where we're trying to start our own little permaculture food forest here so I'm in hyperdrive on the researching and planning and dreaming what could be...

Meanwhile, for one of the plants I was looking into, an article said that it is known to do especially well when the soil is inoculated with pisolithus arhizus (Gesundheit! 😅).

Looking that one up, one site I read (maybe wikipedia? I looked a few places.) called it an "earthball-like fungus" so no actually an earthball or puffball, but looks like that I guess. And wikipedia said it "is a major component in mycorrhizal fungus mixtures that are used in gardening as powerful root stimulators." (It cites a book called "100 cool fungi" or something similar.)

I have gone down the rabbit trail of growing different types of mushrooms before, and even researched a bit to begin understanding the concepts of breeding them for different traits. So I'm pretty fascinated with the idea of inoculating fungi into my soil for things like root stimulation as well as other purposes.

For the most part, I have either seen people talk about fungi broadly as simply trying to encourage the growth of a mycelial network within the soil. But not talking about a specific type of fungus.

Or if a specific variety is mentioned, it is because it is planned for a food harvest- such as wine caps.

But does anyone have experience with inoculating specific types of mycelia for specific purposes/specific relationships with your plants?

I don't have any experience growing mushrooms though I really am enjoying learning about the and all the health benefits.

Maybe this post will help:

Ellen said, "Pisolithus (P tinctorius in this case, which is another name for P. arhizus) is in fact one of the mushroom species that are used as root-dip inoculants to help transplanted seedlings flourish.
https://fungi.com/products/mycogrow_soluble

https://permies.com/t/213861/Nurseries-selling-mycorrhizal-mushroom-inoculated#1812110

I dont know if you are familiar with Lowenfels book Teaming with Bacteria or Teaming with Fungi.  If not It would be worth your time in light of your beautiful endeavor.

I've been doing all kinds of projects involving inoculating plants and seeds with mycorrhizal fungi for many years now. Mycorrhizae are fungi that form a symbiotic and often mutually beneficial relationship with plant roots.  Some species can form mushrooms, while others don't (imperfect fungi).

Dye-makers false puffball (Pisolithus tinctorius/arhizus ) is a well known fungus found throughout North America that was common here in western Oregon, although I haven't seen it as often in recent years. It is almost certainly found in Oklahoma. It is easy to collect and dry. Each mature mushroom contains millions of spores. In fact, this species is one of the most popular species to put into mycorrhizal spore mixes and high end potting soils. Foresters use it to inoculate tree seedlings, especially conifers like pine trees. They speed up growth and help the trees absorb nutrients and to resist disease and drought. Pisolithus forms mycorrhizae with an extremely wide range of plants, hence its popularity.  

Inoculation is simple. One method I've used is to dump the spores in a bucket, add water and a bit of molasses, mix it and then dip (or soak) the roots of the tree in it before planting. Or you can water your six packs of veggies with this spore slurry solution. Most of the organic potting soils sold in Oregon already contain this species, so some people are using it without even knowing it!

I've also inoculated Douglas-firs with Oregon truffles and various fruit tree and cottonwoods with blonde morels. I plant madrone berries and seeds that have black morel spores on them. I also pour yellow chanterelle spore slurry around Douglas-firs and white chanterelle spore slurry around manzanita, chinquapin , blueberries and huckleberries. The possibilities are endless.

For more info, check out Peter McCoy's Radical Mycology. This book has massive amounts  of info about this topic and is up to date.

Here's a link to Mycocorrhizal Applications, a company from Oregon that has all kinds of info about this topic. Their founder, Mike Amaranthus, is a leading researcher in the field of mycorrhizae:

https://mycorrhizae.com/about/

Hope all this info helps! And good luck!

This video shows what Pisolithus looks like inside: