Truffles

This spring we've established a trufferie at Moora.  

It's a joint venture with Perigord Truffles of Tasmania.  Duncan from Perigord came to Moora and we walked all over the farm looking for the 'right place' for a trufferie.  The criteria are said to be climate, soils, irrigation and access to air freight (see Perigord's web site).  Eventually we found the spot in paddock 60 - just over an acre when you take account of the required setback from other trees.

The first thing we had to do is to add 60 tonne (yes six zero tonnes) of lime.  Previously we had put 60 tonnes on the whole 57 acre farm!  That got done in September.  We then cultivated carefully - and got the black truffle innoculated trees from Perigord.  There are 278 trees in 15 rows.  They are a mix of hazelnuts, oaks and ilex in a ratio of 4 : 1 : 1.  Most of the trees were planted in October - with the last 20 put in last week.

Anthony (farm manager) has put in an automatic irrigation system.  It's pretty good - with an individual sprinkler for each tree and individually programmable electronic controllers for every row.  At present the established trees get 8 minutes of water every 2 days while the newly planted ones are getting 12 minutes every day.

I have looked individually at every tree and there is not one that hasn't survived.  The trees planted in October have almost doubled in size and here is even one that has poked its head above the top of a big plastic guard.  They look really good.

While I was back in Australia I built the fence around the trufferie.  Duncan says it's important to exclude everything - in the interests of avoiding contamination from competing fungi.  Consequently, the fence is 2 metres high - but it's electric rather than a strong physical barrier.  I'm very pleased with it.

Now we wait.  Hopefully the truffles appear in 2 or 3 years, but it could take longer.  Or they may not appear at all!