The site where you plan to establish your truffle orchard has unique and often immutable attributes. Understanding the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of your site is a key step in planning a successful truffle orchard.

Our experts will be happy to help you assess the truffle potential of your project. The feasibility analysis includes:

• On-site visit
• Basic soil test
• Summary report
• Personalized recommendations for truffle cultivation

Once we are certain that your soil is suitable for growing truffles, our experts will recommend the soil parameters to improve and the choice of trees to plant.

Tree species may vary depending on soil analysis and field observations. Our experts will help you understand the layout of your land and determine the planting density of truffle trees, among other things.

NB : At this stage and subsequent ones, it is strongly suggested that you retain the advisory services of a partner agronomist to complement our fields of expertise in order to ensure the success of your project.

Several species of truffle trees (INSERT LINK) are available to you:

• Hazel
• Charm
• Hickory
• Oak
• Pine

Preparing the soil before planting a truffle orchard is crucial and helps to achieve conditions that will promote the full growth of the truffle plants and their long-term establishment.

When preparing the soil, the goal is to create a favorable environment for the truffle tree roots. These roots must be able to be in contact with water and access nutrients from the soil. In addition, they must have the space they need to grow without being deformed or encountering obstacles.

The preparation of your future plantation depends on several factors mainly linked to the relief, the cultural history and the results of the physical and chemical analyses of the soil.

As the cultural objective with a truffle orchard is to promote the mycorrhizal environment of your plantation, you may notice significant differences in soil preparation, establishment and maintenance of a truffle orchard compared to more traditional crops.

Stages of soil preparation

• Mechanical tillage
• Soil analysis
• PH and liming
• Fertilization

Essential details
The type of soil cultivation to be carried out varies depending on the terrain on which the truffle orchard will be located. A fairly loose soil should be worked to a depth of approximately 30 cm, which will avoid bringing up infertile substrate and large rocks. Soil that has not been worked for several years will require decompaction with a subsoiler to a depth of at least 50 cm.

Depending on the nature of the land selected, the soil will be worked over its entire area, or only on the planting row. If the entire field will be disturbed, it may be wise to subsequently sow a ground cover plant between the rows to control the invasion of unwanted tall grasses.

Finally, soil preparation for establishing a truffle orchard is rarely complete without the addition of lime, since the soil pH is more often acidic than alkaline. If necessary, correction of the C/N ratio and nutrient deficiencies will be carried out at the same time.

Truffle trees sold in multi-cells can be planted at any time of the year as long as the ground is not frozen and the weather conditions are favorable. Ideally, a truffle orchard is planted in spring or early summer, from May 16 to June 15.

Autumn is also an excellent season, which allows you to avoid hot temperatures that promote evapotranspiration in plants and make recovery more difficult. Summer planting is still possible, but it requires more maintenance and frequent irrigation of the plants.

TRUFFES QUÉBEC TAKES CARE OF EVERYTHING

We offer a truffle orchard installation service. You can rest assured knowing everything has been installed correctly and optimally, and you also benefit from a better return guarantee. Truffle orchard installation includes marking, tree installation, and equipment installation (protective tubes and jute).

Once your soil is ready and the planting scenario is confirmed, we will agree on a schedule for installing your truffle orchard. We estimate that the installation of a truffle orchard of approximately one hectare and 1,250 trees will take one week, although variations are possible depending on weather conditions.

Proper plantation management is essential for good production. In vegetable crops, maintenance techniques are easily observed through tree growth, flowering, fruit enlargement, etc.

However, truffle cultivation involves the development of a fungus in the soil that is not directly observable. The first sign of good truffle growth is the appearance of burnt patches, an area of ​​vegetation mortality around the trunk of the truffle tree, between the fourth and seventh year. It is also possible to observe the proliferation of mycorrhizae on the roots of the tree, or to detect the presence of mycelium using molecular soil analyses. At this stage, it is important to keep in mind protection, irrigation, weeding, fertilization, phytosanitary control and tree pruning.

Truffes Québec supports its members:
To this end, we offer our producer members rigorous advisory services , technical sheets, a management book, networking and ongoing training to perfect your knowledge and ensure the success of your truffle orchard.

Patience is the key to success! The first truffles are generally harvested two to three years after the first appearance of the burn, which occurs four to seven years after the truffle plant is established. When harvest time comes, from August to December, the ideal is to harvest once a week in order to collect only the mature truffles.

Truffles, usually found on the surface, can be found up to 40 cm underground. Since humans cannot detect the aroma of mature truffles, the two possible harvesting options are the garden claw or the help of a truffle dog.

Garden claw
This method involves scraping the ground to expose the truffles. The claws must be used delicately to avoid damaging the tree roots too much. Truffle picks are designed for this purpose.

Truffle dog
Most dogs have a keen sense of smell to detect the scent of truffles underground. If you have a dog, simply use a little truffle oil to train him to recognize the scent of truffles. Your dog will naturally scratch the ground where the truffles are located. Simply reward him and then gently dig up the precious mushroom.