It is beneficial to examine how nature endows plants with the ability to survive and grow without fertilisers and often in very impoverished soil conditions. Linderman (1978) at an I.P.P.S. conference several years ago made the point that "no organism in the natural environment can live like a hermit". This referred to the fact that plants usually live in close association with microorganisms. The objective of this review is to describe how the roots of nursery plants utilise these relationships and what considerations need to be taken into account on New Zealand nurseries.