Truffle is considered the most expensive product in the world. The cost of 1 kg of this mushroom reaches 2000 euros, which is several times higher than the cost of black caviar and edible gold.
Where do truffles grow
The high cost of truffles is due to the fact that this mushroom is very rare. Under natural conditions, truffle grows mainly in the forests of France, Italy, and Great Britain. Truffles learned to grow on farms, and these countries annually export up to 100 tons of this mushroom.
Truffle is also found in southern Russia in mixed forests. The truffle's peculiarity is that for its reproduction spores must pass through the intestines of a person, animal or insect. Only in this case, mycelium is formed from them.
In nature, there are about 60 species of truffle mushrooms. All of them grow deep underground and have a strong aroma. Only three types of truffles are eaten:
• "Black" or "French";
• “White” or “African”;
• "Chinese" or "Asian."
Types of Truffles
The remaining truffle mushrooms emit the smell of rotten onions or spoiled fish. Truffle fly larvae lays in such mushrooms. These pests carry inedible truffle spores in swamps and peatlands.
Truffle flies can infect fruiting bodies of delicate mushrooms. Small black dots will be noticeable on the truffle tuber. Even if at the time of harvesting the mushroom affected by the truffle fly looks fresh, it is not sent for export. Such a truffle is used to form new landings.
Truffle fly
Technology for the artificial cultivation of truffles
For a long time, French agronomists tried to cultivate truffles artificially in forest areas, but only in the second half of the 19th century did the first truffle plantation appear in France.
The mushroom infected with the larvae of the truffle fly was buried in the ground next to a hazelnut bush. Larvae eating a truffle infected the roots of the plant with fungal spores. Truffle spores were fixed on the roots of hazelnuts, and entered into symbiosis with them. After 15 years, agronomists harvested the first crop of mushrooms. French scientists divided the spore-infected bush into separate cuttings and transplanted them into more fertile soil. The first crop from the first truffle plantation was harvested after six years.
Truffle mycelium is still propagated in this way, but oak seedlings are used instead of hazel, as their root system develops deep into the soil and gives large yields.
Oak acorns are used to expand truffle plantations. They are planted to a depth of 20cm - 40cm near the mother plant. Then the spores of the fungus fall on the young root system of the tree and develop as it grows.
Symbiosis of truffles when growing hazelnuts
Unlike many other mushrooms, truffle does not parasitize on the root system of plants, but enters into symbiosis with it. Truffles need organic matter to grow. The mushroom receives them from fertilizers that gardeners bring to the tree trunk circle. In return, the truffle absorbs additional moisture and gives it to the roots of oak or hazel. Also, the fungus protects the roots of plants from mold and lower fungi.
Because of this symbiosis, the fruiting of the host plant increases. Therefore, in the northern regions of France, where the truffle yield is low, since they grow only to 0.5 cm, these mushrooms are used to increase the yield of hazelnuts, which are exported.
Truffle primer
The soil for planting truffles should be loose and fertile. Alkaline soil with a pH of at least 7.5 is best suited..
To the area where the truffles will grow, the soil mixture is imported, consisting of:
• sand;
• sheet land;
• forest soil, which is taken from under coniferous trees;
• the land on which the oak grew.
All components are mixed, focusing on the PH-meter. Sand in the soil mixture plays the role of baking powder. Leafy ground is the main breeding ground for truffle spores. Using oak soil and pine needles create natural conditions for truffles.
The soil mixture is poured with a layer of 30cm-40cm. There should be no stones in the soil where the truffles grow. Mycelium is planted in open ground to a depth of 20cm.
To obtain a crop, hazelnuts or oak are planted next to the place of truffle planting. The mushroom can be planted in open ground near acacia or walnuts, but in this case the trees need to be fertilized plentifully.
Features of growing truffles in Russia
Black truffle cultivation in Russia began its development in 2000. The first truffle farm appeared in the Krasnodar Territory, where truffle was grown in open ground on oak seedlings purchased in France.
Truffle is a thermophilic mushroom. In open ground, it survives only in a warm climate. The optimum air temperature for mycelium growth is +23 C. It is planted in open ground in mid-May, when the threat of frost passes.
In central Russia and in its northern regions, black truffle is grown in polycarbonate greenhouses, where the temperature is kept optimal for mushroom growth all year round.
Technology for growing truffles in open ground
After the soil for growing truffles is ready, trees are planted in it. Then, within the near-trunk circle of seedlings, grooves are made with a depth of 20 cm. The distance between them should be 10cm-15cm.
Oak sawdust infected with truffle mycelium is poured into the furrows. You can buy seedlings whose root system is already infected with truffle mycelium. In this case, the furrows do not need to be done.
Trees are covered with agrofibre or mulched in the autumn, so that the soil temperature does not fall below +15 C. Spruce spruce branches, hay or vermiculite can be used as mulch. It is important that the mulch is not affected by spores of fungal diseases, so the covering material is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Once every two weeks, mulch is removed and introduced into the soil complex mineral fertilizers and organic matter. Then the soil is covered again.
Horse manure is ideal for growing black truffle: it contains a lot of potassium and phosphorus, and the nitrogen content in this fertilizer is small. Due to an overabundance of nitrogen, in the autumn, young twigs of the host tree can grow. In the winter, they will freeze, and the plant may die along with truffle mycelium.
In winter, the mulch is not removed so that the truffle mycelium does not disappear. Truffle dies at a temperature of + 8 ° C.
Greenhouse Truffle Growing Tips
In central Russia, truffles are grown in polycarbonate greenhouses. In order to get a truffle crop, it is necessary to maintain a constant air temperature at +23 C, and soil - +15 C.
Manually controlling the temperature is very difficult, so the greenhouse is automated using thermal sensors and thermostats. The temperature display is controlled outside the greenhouse so as not to upset the temperature balance inside.
As a host plant, hazelnut bushes are planted in the greenhouse. The soil must be constantly moist, so an automatic irrigation system is installed in the greenhouse.
Watering is best done using irrigation systems by sprinkling. With this watering, truffles will grow faster on the hazelnut root system.
Chinese and African truffles. Growing mushrooms in a greenhouse
Unlike black truffles, Asian and African truffles can be grown in a regular greenhouse. Chinese truffle, for example, grows under acacia. Sometimes this fungus can grow on the surface of the soil.
For growing Asian and African white truffles, holes 40 cm deep are made, which are filled with mycelium of the fungus by a third. At this depth, the soil will not freeze in the autumn. Pegs are driven in along the perimeter of the landing with truffles. Agrofibre is pulled on pegs. In the fall, planting with Chinese truffles is mulched. With this growing method, truffles will be small.
Truffle Harvest
The first truffle crop is harvested six years after the mycelium is planted in a greenhouse or open ground. The fruit bodies of the truffles nest five to seven each. From 100 m2 of planting area, you can collect up to 10 kg of truffles.
Truffle forms fruiting bodies several times per season. Truffles grow in the summer in mid-July - early August.
Usually fruiting bodies of artificially grown mushrooms grow at a depth of 30cm-40cm. They are dug out with the help of a garden scoop. Harvesting must be carried out carefully, as the cost of 1 kg of truffle reaches 2000 euros, and damaged mushrooms can be sold at a discounted price of -300 euros.
Black Truffle Harvest
After collecting the first harvest of truffles, the soil is well fertilized, so the mushrooms will form fruiting bodies as early as next summer.
