Planting a truffle tree: the essential steps to know

Have you just bought a truffle tree and would now like to plant it in your garden? Congratulations! This video is here to guide you step by step through the planting process. It’s important to follow certain rules to ensure the growth and survival of your truffle tree. Watch the video carefully and follow the advice to plant your tree successfully and enjoy fresh truffles in a few years’ time.

Patience is the key to success

Like all good things, truffles have to wait.
It takes 7 to 10 years to harvest your first truffle.
So, to satisfy the epicurean in you, it’s time to plant your truffle trees!

Put the odds in your favor

Here are a few steps you can take to ensure that your trees are fully grown and that truffles bear abundant fruit in the next few years.

Planting location

A plot facing south, southwest or southeast with a slight slope is preferable.

Favourable soil

Your soil should be calcareous, have a clay content of less than 30% and not be rich in organic matter to encourage truffle fruiting.

Simple tests can confirm these parameters on a small scale, without the need for a full soil analysis:

Contenant = Taux de calcaire

Lime content

To confirm the lime content, pour a small amount of pure vinegar onto bare, grass-free soil. If the soil becomes effervescent on contact with vinegar, it is probably calcareous.

Cylindre = Quantité d'argile

Quantity

To assess the amount of clay in the soil, use wet soil to shape a cylinder, then try to bend it. If the cylinder bends without breaking, the soil contains too much clay for truffle fruiting.

Blanc et Noir Asymétrique Photographie Portfolio Livre (1080 × 1080 px) (31)

Floor color

Soil may contain too much organic matter if it is dark and looks like compost or black earth.

Plant your trees on a cloudy day, when temperatures are between 10 and 20 degrees and winds are light.

  1. Water the substrate and roots of the truffle plant.
  2. Dig a hole 20-30 cm in diameter and 30 cm deep. Care must be taken to ensure that the tree is not planted too deeply.
  3. Make sure you have the right depth by keeping the tree in its box and placing it at the bottom of the hole. The base of the tree (the collar) should be at the same height as the ground. The trunk should never be covered with soil and the roots, which are in the box, should never be out of the ground.
  4. Carefully remove the tree from the box by holding it upside down with one hand, inserting the trunk between your fingers and pulling the box with the other. As the substrate is wet, don’t hesitate to pinch the box slightly to free the tree from it.
  5. Place the tree in the hole, keeping the root ball intact. The tree should be planted as straight as possible (perpendicular to the ground).
  6. Fill the planting hole with the soil that was initially removed. You can also add potting soil low in organic matter if you have any. This type of potting soil is available from garden centers.
  7. Compact the soil lightly with your hands so that the soil around the tree is a little deeper to prevent run-off.
  8. Water the plant with 2 to 4 liters of water.
  9. Check that the collar of the seedling is about 2 cm below the surface of the added soil.
  10. Install your stake and protective tube. It’s important that these are firmly in place to avoid damaging the tree in high winds.

Spacing

Keep hazelnut trees 2 metres apart and oak trees 4 to 6 metres apart. These distances will allow your trees to create conditions conducive to truffle mycelium production. It may be appropriate to choose a wider spacing depending on your garden layout, but this could delay the appearance of truffles.

Irrigation

If it hasn’t rained in the first three days after planting, water each tree with 2 to 4 liters of extra water.

    • If the tree is planted in autumn, it should receive enough water afterwards.
    • If the tree is planted in spring or summer, make sure it receives 2 to 4 liters of water every 14 to 20 days, taking into account natural rainfall.

Protection

After planting hardwood trees, and for the following two to three years, strongly consider adding a stake and protective tube to protect your trees from potential pests, while forming a microclimate around the tree that favors its development.

Planting phase (0 to 2 years after planting)

During this phase, the plant produces many fine roots on which the symbiosis develops. The aim of the planting phase is to ensure rapid recovery of the truffle plants, as well as good root and vegetative growth, so that the protective materials can be removed in the third spring after planting.

Working the soil
In spring, use a garden spade or spade to loosen the soil to a depth of 20-30 cm and a radius of 1 m around the trunk.

Irrigation
If it doesn’t rain, provide 2 to 4 liters of water every 15 to 20 days.

Weed control
If there is no mulch around the tree, remove vegetation near and around the trunk to a total diameter of one metre. Take the opportunity to visually inspect the tree to check its health.

Fertilization

Year 1

  • Use organic water-soluble fertilizer such as fish hydrolysate to fertilize truffle plants at the same time as irrigation.
  • Put half a dose of the recommendation shown on the label or packaging into the water for each irrigation.
  • Stop fertilizing after the1st

Example: fish hydrolysate (2-4-0.5)

  • Brand: Acadie
  • Dosage on packaging: 10 ml per liter of water
  • Recommended dose (half-dose from packaging): 5ml per liter of water

Year 2 and 3

  • If trees are spindly, continue with fish hydrolysate
  • If the trees are vigorous, replace the fish hydrolysate with granulated hen manure such as Actisol (or its equivalent) at 50g/m2 around the tree once a year.

Sizes

  • Year 1: no pruning required.
  • Years 2 and 3: pruning for a single dominant stem (single trunk).
  • No hazelnut pruning for year 1-2-3.

Installation phase of truffle mycelium (3 to 8 years after planting)

We can now see a burnt area, a zone at the foot of the trees where the grass is shorter and less abundant. The aim is to encourage the development of burnt trees and truffles.

Working the soil
In spring, loosen the soil to a depth of 20-30 cm using a garden spade.

Irrigation
During dry spells, water only when the soil is dry to a depth of 20 cm.

Weed control
Continue to remove weeds within a 50cm radius of the tree.

Size
Simply remove the side branches to allow access to the tree.

Fertilization
Continue with the same fertilization as in the previous phase.

Production phase (9 years or more after planting)

The trees begin to bear fruit and the truffles are harvested.

The aim is to maintain the work of recent years and maintain good humidity conditions.

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Frequently asked questions

What type of soil should I use to plant my truffle tree?

When planting a truffle tree, it’s important to use the right soil to ensure growth and truffle production. It’s advisable to use the soil that has been removed to make the planting hole, without replacing the grass or turf that covers it. Before replacing the soil around the tree’s roots, it is advisable to loosen the soil by loosening the clods. If the soil is heavy, clayey and does not drain well, the addition of compost, composted manure or potting soil enriched with organic matter can be beneficial, up to a height of 10 to 15 cm. A nurseryman will be able to advise you on the best choice of compost, composted manure or potting soil to lighten your soil for planting a truffle tree. However, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t use potting soil or any other “mycorrhizal” planting product, as this can harm truffle production.

Why do we need soil with a high pH and low organic matter?

Generally speaking, the pH of Quebec soils is rather acidic, whereas truffle-growing requires a basic pH, i.e. above 7. At a high pH above 7, truffle development and growth are favored to the detriment of other soil fungi. In Quebec, most soils tend to be acidic. If you don’t want to test your soil to determine the pH precisely, you can assume that it’s probably acidic. To raise your soil’s pH, consider adding calcium or dolomitic (magnesian) lime on the fly. Lime is available in bags from all garden centers. The carbonates in lime neutralize soil acidity.

Good to know!

There is an inverse relationship between pH and soil organic matter content. The higher the organic matter content, the more acidic (low) the soil pH. For this reason, it is not recommended to plant a truffle tree in soil that contains a lot of organic matter, such as black earth or compost purchased from a garden center.

Why should I protect my truffle trees with a protective tube?

The protective tube is a cylinder open on either side, allowing the truffle tree to receive the light and water it needs to grow from the plant, while preventing animals from eating the tree’s head. Inside the protective tube, a warm, humid microclimate is created, conducive to tree growth. This protection also acts against cold and bad weather, which can compromise growth and survival in the early years.

The protective tube significantly increases the tree’s recovery rate and overall survival. If you don’t protect your trees with protective tubes, the truffle tree recovery guarantee is no longer valid.

If you don’t opt for a protective tube, a newly planted tree will benefit from partial protection against extremes of temperature and weather, whether it’s a temporary installation with trellis or cedar shingles, for example.

Should I mulch my truffle trees?

As a general rule, you don’t need mulch for the trio of truffle trees.

To reduce weeds and preserve moisture around the tree, consider mulching with jute or dead leaves. These types of mulch do not contain any contaminants for the truffle mycelium. On the other hand,
cedar, RCW and plastic mulches are not recommended for truffle trees,
 as they interfere with the chemical and biological composition of the soil and can reduce or even prevent truffle fruiting. In other words, although these mulches are very effective in reducing weeding and watering, they create an unfavorable environment for truffle fruiting.

How can I find out the hardiness zone of my plot?

Hardiness is the ability of plants to withstand the rigors of winter. Canada is classified into hardiness zones ranging from 0 to 10. The higher figures correspond to places with the mildest winters. In addition, each zone is divided into two classes, “a” and “b”. Class “a” is slightly cooler than “b”. There are often microclimates within a given hardiness zone.

To find out the hardiness zone of your property, visit http://www.rusticitedesplantes.gc.ca/

When planting truffle trees, you’ll find the hardiness zone for each tree species on the Our trees page. This will enable you to make a selection suited to your terrain.

It’s important to note that if you choose tree species that will be planted on the edge of their hardiness zone, you’ll need to plan for a location sheltered from the wind to maximize their chance of growth and minimize the negative impacts that wind and frost can have on these trees.