The most suitable time for planting is the autumn-winter period if the temperatures are not too low, if the land is not covered by snow for long periods, etc., or spring, paying attention to the return of cold weather. A few days before planting it is advisable to suspend watering the plants in pots so that the soil is dry and easier to remove.
After preparing the soil for truffles, you can start planting the truffle plants.
Place your plants where you want to plant them. Make a hole appropriate to the size of the plant. Remove the plant from its pot and submerge the root ball for 10 seconds in the bucket of water, so that the water penetrates the entire root ball.
Put the tree in the hole. Cover with soil up to the neck of the plant. Finally pack the soil and press with your 2 fists. This will empty the air spaces.
Irrigation of truffle plants
In the conduct to be adopted for irrigation, it is essential to take into account the following elements:
The plant species: the green oak, which has a deep root system, is less sensitive to drought than the hazel, which has a superficial root system.
The truffle appreciates the drought and the heat. Too much water is more harmful than too little water. The goal is to maintain freshness around the mycorrhizae without excessive consumption.
Time of year, and planting season:
During the winter vegetative rest, the plant's water needs are few.
For spring plantings, with the beginning of vegetation, the water needs of the plant are important from the month of April - May: 3 to 4 liters of water/plant may be necessary.
Pruning truffle trees
Pruning should be carried out during the vegetative dormancy period (December/February) from the second/third year, limiting itself to cutting some branches at the base of the tree, to obtain greater sunlight and better soil aeration.
YIELD OF TRUFFLE PLANTS
The amount of truffle produced by a truffle farm can vary greatly depending on the type of plant, truffle management methods, irrigation, vocation of the region, type of truffle used, etc.
PROTECTION OF TRUFFLES
Weeds, especially in the first years of establishment, must be contained because they remove light, water and nutrients from young plants. The use of chemical herbicides is not recommended, as they could damage truffle plants. This is why we must resort to mechanical weeding between the rows and manual weeding near the young truffle plants.
After 4 to 5 years, the plants form a burn, that is, a more or less circular area without vegetation, so weeding interventions will be limited to the area between rows. Subsequently, the fires merge and the herbaceous vegetation almost disappears.
To give some key figures: on poor or scarce lands we can expect to obtain 10 to 15 kilos per hectare and on fertile lands, between 25 and 35 kilos per hectare, or even more.
MYCORRHIZATION. PLANTS MYCORIZED BY TRUFFLES
The truffle is symbiotically associated with a host plant within an organ called a “mycorrhiza.”
The mycorrhiza is constituted, on the one hand, by the mycelium of the fungus that develops around the rootlet of the plant to form a mycelial sheath (“mantle”) and also insinuates itself between the cells of the root cortex to form the “ Hartig network”, on the other hand, by the root itself. The mycelium does not penetrate the interior of the root cells but always remains intercellular, the mycorrhizae of the truffle are “ectomycorrhizae”.
Compatible hosts are the so-called “ectomycorrhizal” plants, mainly forest trees, some of which are associated only with ectomycorrhizal fungi (oaks, hornbeams, beeches, pines, etc.), the others with both ecto and endomycorrhizal fungi, such as poplars and willows, which can be associated with fungi with endomycorrhizas with vesicles and arbuscules.
