Truffle Growing: The Right Technology
Truffle (from lat. Tuber) - refers to the genus of marsupials. The fruiting body of the fungus is tuberous, fleshy, grows underground at a depth of 10–20 cm. There are many varieties of truffle. Truffles mainly grow in the forests of Southern France and Northern Italy, but are also found in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Central Asia.
How to grow truffle mushrooms is described on this page.
What do truffles look like?
Truffle is a saprophyte. It forms mycorrhiza with the roots of trees such as oak and beech, feeds on organic matter from the soil. Fruit bodies, as a rule, are irregularly flattened, rounded or oval. The surface is fibrous. The color of the truffle depends on its type. In a section, mushrooms are able to resemble potatoes or have a marbled appearance. There may be streaks with colorless rims. Bags are bag-shaped, with spherical spores and blunt spines. Not all types of truffle are edible. The most valuable are French black, or perigorsk, and white Piedmontese truffles. In Russia, mainly one type of truffle is found - summer. These mushrooms are sought with the help of specially trained dogs and pigs. Sometimes you can independently discover the truffles under the beautiful foliage - midges curl over them.
Black, or winter, truffle has a rounded tuberous fruit body with an uneven surface in black or dark gray. Its size varies from walnut to medium-sized apple. The pulp of the fruiting body is reddish, after ripening it becomes violet-black. This mushroom has a strong aroma and delicate taste.
Edible mushrooms contain substances inherent in both plants and animals. Their number and concentration are not constant and depend on the time of year, weather, ecology and other conditions. In summer, with a lack of moisture, the concentration of animal substances in the mushrooms increases greatly, and the mushroom itself becomes poisonous from this.
How truffles look is shown in these photos:
How to breed truffles
Growing mushrooms such as black truffles is only possible in oak, hornbeam, walnut and beech groves. It is on the roots of these trees that this fungus grows, forming mycorrhiza with them. You can use natural or specially planted groves. Another important condition for the growth of this fungus is a warm climate. Truffle does not tolerate too severe frosts in winter and high temperatures in summer. He needs a mild winter and a mild, wet summer. Truffle cultivation is possible only in calcareous soil. In addition, the soil must be well-drained and rich in nutrients.
Artificial breeding of truffles is reduced to laying plantations and adding to the soil of the earth from areas of natural habitat of mushrooms.
Before growing truffles, it is very important to choose the right place for trees, on the roots of which mushrooms will grow. It must be protected from all extreme weather events, protected from other plants, as well as animals. The earth must be freed from shrubs and other mushrooms. The site needs to be located at some distance from other trees, which can affect the growth and development of truffles. Check the soil for pH. Why put a soil sample in a small container and pour a little white vinegar into it. If the mixture hiss slightly, then the soil is not suitable for truffles - it is necessary to increase the alkaline level in it. To do this, lime should be added to the ground gradually. Then you need to plant several trees - oak, hazel, beech, hornbeam.
To plant truffles correctly, the mycelium must be brought in together with the soil taken from the natural habitats of the mushrooms. To do this, dig a mycelium at a depth of 10-15 cm and place it next to the trees. You can also break the ripe fruit body of the fungus into several pieces and put next to the roots of seedlings. Now some firms sell walnut seedlings with grafted truffle spores already grafted. When planting such trees, additional land from the habitat is not needed. A mycelium transplant should be performed in late summer or early fall.
An important condition for growing truffles is to irrigate the plantation abundantly and regularly in the summer with warm water. It is also necessary to ensure that no one trampled it. Harvest appears 5-7 years after planting seedlings. Fruiting lasts for 25-30 years. Fruit bodies usually have nests of 3–7 in each soil. When the truffles ripen, the earth rises a little above them, and the grass near the nest dries up. These signs are the beginning of the harvest. As a rule, truffles ripen in autumn and harvest until winter. Each mushroom should be wrapped in parchment and placed in dry rice - this way moisture is preserved in the mushrooms. Moreover, they should not be completely cleared of the earth. Earth protects mushrooms from loss of taste and from microorganisms. Mushrooms should be kept in the refrigerator.
