Growing Truffles
It may start as a dream, to grow the mystical, rare and delicate fungi with the most arresting aroma in the culinary world. Once you find your first truffle, this dream will eventually become an obsession and the passion will remain for the rest of your life. It is the most fantastic journey to travel, opening doors to worlds that you would never think probable or possible, from ancient restaurants and traditional old farms and farmhouses across Europe, to outback Australia, both islands of NZ, and to the finest dining establishments around the world. As a grower, wherever you may travel, the truffle will also be part of those travels and in conversations truffles somehow always arise.
Truffles appear to grow in a wide variety of soils and climates within Australia, with production currently coming from the south of Western Australia, many areas in NSW, the ACT, many parts of Victoria and of course, in Tasmania where the first truffle plantations were developed in the early 1990s. There are also plantations in South Australia and Queensland, however these plantations are not old enough to commence production yet. Truffles are also being produced in both Islands of NZ.
So it is oapparent from the results to date, that the technology is available in Australia to achieve production in many parts of the country. Most of the plantations have some common themes;
- Free draining poor quality soils
- Irrigation water (drought proofing)
- Hot summer temperatures
- Cold winter temperatures
- Dedicated farmers
The most important of all these is the last, as attention to detail is the key to production! There has been a lot of collaboration between local and overseas truffle growers, marketers and research scientists over the past decades, both internationally and in Australia. The current success that growers are enjoying is in part due to these people, but also to the good old Aussie tradition of careful observation and being prepared to have a go at growing these fungi under conditions that some experts would doubt possible. There is now a vast array of management techniques available that have mitigated a lot of the growing problems and members of Australian Truffle Growers Association will be able to benefit from this collective knowledge. By being able to communicate with fellow growers locally and nationally and work through any problems new growers may encounter along their journey to production, the Association will grow to the benefit of members and to the benefit of the growing truffle industry.
Finally, growing truffles can be for simple personal pleasure or for profit and plantations might contain a few trees or thousands. While the warm and enthusiastic words above may be inspiring, it must be emphasised that truffle growing is not a “get rich quick” project and should be viewed as a long term investment, that may or may not yield any returns, much the same as other agricultural pursuits.
GETTING STARTED
Climate is probably the primary issue. Tree suppliers should already know of most of the climatic conditions in truffle growing regions, however it is suggested that you contact the Bureau of Meteorology and get the climate detail from a station of theirs close to you and the State department responsible for soil conservation to get an idea of soil types; that would be a good start. Tree suppliers may need some climatic and soil information for your specific area before they are prepared to comment. The Comparative Climate Table of Europe, Australia and New Zealand will give you an idea of the range of climatic conditions in truffle producing areas. The heat and cold zones, as shown on the maps produced by the Digger’s Club of Australia, (click on ‘View Enlarged Map’ for each zone), will provide an indication of the Australian growing areas. Truffles are being successfully grown in areas with Heat Zones in the 1 to 4 range and Cold Zones of 8 to 10. To date, truffles have been harvested in Australia at Manjimup in Western Australia, in Northern Tasmania, in the Yarra Valley, the Otways and parts of Gippsland in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and in the New South Wales Highlands from Jindabyne to Moss Vale and out to Oberon, Bathurst and Orange. The members general locations can be seen by clicking on Members Location, but in some cases it is showing a contact address rather than truffiere location. Nevertheless it indicates the spread of the membership.
As a general rule, a mean daily temp of about 20 degrees in the January and mean daily of about 5 degrees in July is desirable. Some say a rule of thumb is at least 7 frosts during the winter. A minimum rainfall of at least 700 mm per year would be desirable and good rain in the summer months is required to set the truffles. You may need to drought proof your trees, particularly in the early stages, so you will need a good water supply, either surface or ground water, (but not saline). Truffles originated in forests growing on limestone soils and were not irrigated, so your area rainfall could influence your decision of whether to irrigate or not.
So in summary we recommend that you do your homework as suggested above, check the climatic conditions at your site from the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station, get a soil test done and talk to tree suppliers. There are suppliers for soil tests and trees on the ‘Suppliers’ page of the Website. If you inform us of your approximate location (nearest town) we might be able to inform a local grower and ask if they are happy to contact you.
Soils need to be free draining and have a pH of 8 as well as other micro nutrient levels, which may need correcting, depending upon the results of the soil test. Most people are liming the soils to bring it up to the needed pH. For example soils of pH less than 6 might require 60 tonnes of lime per Ha to bring them up to a pH of 8. If you decide to go ahead, the ‘Suppliers’ page includes suppliers of soil testing services and infected trees and they will be happy to assist you.
Preparation is straight forward by spraying out the grass, then adding lime and nutrients and chisel ploughing it in to the top 200 mm. Some recommend deep ripping with the Yoeman’s plough to improve the soil tilth and its water retention qualities. Another suggestion is that it is better to ensure thorough soils preparation well before planting but it is best to discuss all these options and your particular situation with your tree supplier. You need to keep well away from existing trees as they may have competing mycorrhiza on their roots, which will compete with the truffle mycorrhiza. Again, check these issues with your tree supplier. Set out the tree lines, install tree guards and the irrigation (if required) and plant the trees, probably best in early spring. Some people plant in rows along the contours to better manage the solil moisture and reduce reliance on irrigation. The infected trees most commonly available are English oak, Holly oak and Hazelnut, but there are other suitable varieties; again check with your tree supplier. There are about 400 trees per ha (160 per acre) and dont expect any change from, say, a ballpark $30,000/ha or $12,000/acre for the set up, (depending on how much you do yourself!), including fencing and irrigation.
Growers have been consistently getting truffles after 4 to 5 years with the new technology being employed, but earlier growers (in NZ and Tasmania) were waiting for 10 years or more before production commenced. It is, after all, an agricultural pursuit and comes with all those farm related issues. Harvesting is being done with the help of dogs and they are available for hire in most regions with some suppliers being able to either train a dog for you or assist with training practices. Again see the Links page.
FAQ
We are often asked if it is possible to infect existing trees with truffle mycorrhiza. The quick answer is No!, as there are a number of issues. All established trees will have their roots colonised by some kind of mycorrhiza which will be well established. This might be detrimental, as it might compete with the T. melanosporum
spore. Secondly, the soil around the existing tree will have to be prepared to grow truffle by having a pH of 8, (unless it is limestone soil?). Then comes the issue of getting the micorhizza to the roots in a cost effective manner? One possible approach, and probably the cheapest, is to plant infected trees around the existing trees. This might be called the ‘Talon Method’ after the Frenchman that used it in the late 1800′s to produce infected trees, but modifying the soil pH is the issue! So you can see it is a lot of work with no guarantees.
If you decide to go ahead and plant truffles we would welcome you as a member of the Association with annual dues payable in January!
