Grow your own truffle tree
Truffles (we’re talking about the fungi rather than the chocolate variety here) are a favourite ingredient for foodies everywhere. Their intense flavour can be used to add an indulgent twist on everything from pasta and seafood to scrambled eggs. But unless you’ve trained up your own truffle pig, you’ll have to splash out quite a lot on these delicacies. So why not grow your own?
We’ve got our hands on some special oak and hazel tree seedlings inoculated with summer truffle spores, developed in association with the The Great British and Irish Truffle Association. Simply plant your tree, sit back and after several years you’ll be harvesting your truffle crop and cooking up a storm. Late winter or early spring is a good time to plant trees, so now’s a good time to start planning. Just be sure to invite us round to help you try out your culinary successes.
Oak tree seedling, inoculated with Summer Truffle
Hazel Tree Seedling, inoculated with Summer Truffle
For keen mushroom growers, who are a little more impatient, you’ll love our shiitake mushroom log. We send these out fully colonised by the fungi and ready to spawn shiitake mushrooms after just a short rest from travelling.
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Interested in obtaining truffle tree for indoor planting both white and black, how do I go about getting the starter trees?
Eric, if you’re interested in the truffle trees on the Eden Project online shop, these are starter oak and hazel trees that have already been inoculated with the black summer truffle (Tuber aestivum var. uncinatum).
I have heard that innoculated trees need to be isolated from other trees. What is the situation regarding planting outdoors?
It’s best to plant the inoculated tree as far away as possible from other trees to try and prevent contamination. If lime has been added to the area where the tree is to be planted then the conditions will be favourable for the truffle fungi and will not so favourable for competing fungi. The truffle tree does need planting outside to produce truffles.
Hannah,
Can you tell me how old the trees are when supplied and how long before a crop can be harvested? Will the tree produce Truffles if tree is healthy for life?
Thanks Ian
Ian, the saplings are about a year old when delivered and will produce truffles from years 4-7 from planting. Hazels will produce for upto 25 years and the oaks will produce for up to 50 years.
how many truffle trees will an oak truffle tree produce? Is it difficult to take care of? If your plant it indoors when will you have to move it outside due to the tree growing to large?
The trees should produce roughly around 40 – 180 grams to start with and should increase production steadily. The trees themselves are not difficult to grow but we do not suggest they are grown indoors in pots, as these are going to become rather large trees. The less disturbance to the roots the better, as you won’t be able to harvest any truffles for approximately four years after planting. The trees do come with a complete instruction leaflet for care and harvesting so that should be able to answer any further questions.
Hannah, Is it possible to grow trees impregnated with Burgandy (white) summer truffles, alongside the black winter truffle trees or will they interfere with one another?
Our suppliers tell us that they will be fine growing alongside each other, just note that the summer (Burgandy) truffle is also black.
will this type of oak tree grow in western kentucky U.S. ? What type of oak is it? Same ?’s for the hazel tree too. And will you ship to the U.S. ? thanks so much, sounds great.
The oak and hazel will grow well in Western Kentucky, because the climate is very similar to the UK’s. The oak are Quercus robur and the hazel are Corylus avellana. Unfortunately, due to customs regulations, we can’t ship the trees to the US. However, our truffle tree supplier has a partner company over there who would be happy to supply the trees for you. You can contact Robert Chang from the American Truffle company on robert@americantruffle.com
What is the ideal climate to grow these truffle trees in?
The UK Summer Truffle’s natural habitat is shady woodland. Your tree can be grown in shady or open areas. It is best planted directly into the ground, but can also grow for several years in a pot on balcony or patio. The ideal soil for your truffle-tree is well drained with a high pH. pH is a measure of acidity and can be tested with simple kits from most garden centres. The ideal pH for the UK Summer Truffle is 7.3 – 8.0. If your pH is too low then it can be easily increased by applying a small amount of lime to the planting site.
Is it possible to raise truffles in Macedonia. I am very interested in making a truffle farm. Any suggestions. Thank You.
Hi I’m wondering about Minnesota can get to be 20 below zero
Unfortunately due to customs regulations we can’t ship the trees to the US, however our suppliers do have a partner company over there who would be happy to supply the trees for you. You can contact Robert Chang from the American Truffle company on robert@americantruffle.com – and he may be able to advise you on the climate question!
Can a mature tree be innoculated? Say, Oaks that are already well established?
Alisa, our suppliers just sell smaller trees that have been inoculated, but I think your question would be perfect to put to the specialists on all things truffles – the Great British and Irish Truffle Association: http://www.gbita.com/
Hi Hannah – how many of the saplings could you plant per hectare and what do you think the avaerage yield per tree might be?
Are you planning on selling the Hazel variety too?
Melanie, we’ve asked the suppliers at Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd to contact you as they have so much information on this type of thing!
Can you send the saplings to italy ?
Hi Richard, our suppliers can send the trees to Italy; we have full plant passports for them which allows easy transport of all the trees throughout the EU. If you let us know how many trees they would like we can send you over a delivery cost.
Hi,
Is their a truffle plant that can be grown indoors? Or does every planet need to be outside.
Thanks
The natural habitat of the UK Summer Truffle trees we’ve got on offer is shady woodland. Your tree can be grown in shady or open areas. It is best planted directly into the ground, but can also grown for several years in a pot on a balcony or patio. It does need to be outside to produce truffles.
Hi I’m in South Florida (Miami) and would like to grow truffles here for personal consumptions. even though it’s hot here Wiki states “temperatures are in the mid 80s to low 90s (29–35 °C), accompanied by high humidity, though the heat is often relieved by afternoon thunderstorms or a sea breeze that develops off the Atlantic Ocean” what do you think?
Can we suggest that you contact our suppliers’ partner company in the US? You can contact Robert Chang from the American Truffle company on robert@americantruffle.com
Has anybody managed to produce a truffle yet.
I am unable to find any possitive reviews of people raving about their harvest. My four oaks hve been in the ground for 3 years and I am contemplating buing another few as a present ,but does it actually work?
Mrs Doubt
Our suppliers (Mycorrhizal Systems in West Yorkshire) tell us that their “oldest plantation is coming into its fourth year and has started developing brules (dying vegetation) around the trees which is a very good sign, and we are hoping for our first crop this summer”. You could contact them directly if you’d like any more information http://www.plantationsystems.com/contact
i need a truffle supliers ph nb to order trees for europe location or email please or website where to order from .thank you.
If you’re asking if we ship to the EU, we do indeed. We can give you a postage quote if you let us know where you are. The pH is 7.6 for the summer truffle.