How do you grow truffles yourself?
A plate with delicious, fresh pasta, cream sauce and fragrant truffles on top. A real treat. Just also very expensive. Is there another way? Can you grow truffles in your own garden? If so, what do you need, how exactly does it work and how long does it take until the first truffles are edible and can be harvested?
Truffles from our own garden
The noble and most expensive edible mushroom in the world is a culinary delight. However, the bulbous fellow is not particularly attractive. But it convinces with its unique taste. That's why some people ask themselves, can't I also plant the mushroom in my own garden? Yes, it's possible. Plant your first truffle tree.
Truffle growing made easy
The truffle grows underground. In doing so, he enters into a connection with the roots of a tree. These are mostly deciduous trees. The two form a win-win partnership. The truffle provides the plant with nutrients and water. To do this, the fungus is supplied with energy-rich products such as sugar from the photosynthesis of the host tree.
You can inoculate the host tree with fungal spores yourself before planting, but it is better to get already inoculated trees from the nursery. Since it takes years until the first truffle harvest, the investment is worthwhile.
Garden centers like to offer hornbeams, pedunculate oaks, hazelnuts, copper beeches or black pines as truffle trees. They are inoculated with the spores of the Burgundy truffle (Tuber uncinatum) or the Perigord truffle (Tuber melanosporum). These truffle varieties thrive best in our latitudes.
How to plant the truffle tree?
First a few notes on the soil conditions. The truffle likes calcareous soils with a pH of 7.0 to 8.5. However, it also tolerates lean, stony and loamy soils. It prefers permeable soils because it is sensitive to waterlogging. Now the tree just has to be planted in the ground:
If you want to look for truffles, you should consider a few things, because there is not only one...
- Carefully knock the tree out of the pot and place it in the planting hole.
- Fill all around with soil, press down well and water generously.
- If it is dry, keep an eye on the moisture and water regularly.
- weed keep away from the tree approx. 80×80 cm around the trunk. This stimulates the growth of the tree and fungus.
- Autumn is the ideal time to plant the truffle tree.
- Be careful not to use bark mulch, as it is unsuitable due to its pH-lowering properties.
- Avoid pesticides in the immediate area. Treat the plants with deficiency symptoms only with a foliar fertilizer and no nitrogen fertilizer.
Now it's time to be patient! It can take four to seven years before the first harvest.
It can be harvested
Truffles grow underground and are therefore not easy to find. How should one recognize where the fungus has formed on the root network? Just digging up the garden isn't helpful. This destroys the fine fungal network.
Maybe you've got yourself a cute truffle dog by now. Otherwise watch out for the truffle fly (Suillia tuberiperda). This Fly prefer to sit on the ground directly above the truffle. Another surefire sign of the fungus is the unique smell of truffles just above the spot. Here you can find the truffle at a depth of approx. Carefully dig out 5 to 30 cm by hand. The harvest time of Burgundy truffles is of August to November and des Perigord truffles from November to March.
So you can very well plant the coveted truffle mushroom in your home garden. You just need a lot of patience, as the first truffles only appear after four years at the earliest. However, since the amount of work involved is limited, it is always worth a try.