Truffle through the seasons

APRIL

 It is time to work the land of mature plants with tools or by hand on the good « brûlés". This task has to remain superficial and must be done on a soil neither too dry nor too damp. If you add an enriching agent, do it before working the soil. Clean the lines of plants. Keep on cutting the oak-trees and remove suckers from hazel-trees.

 

MAY

Check the foliage of the truffle-trees which can be attacked by a lot of parasites (caterpillars, powdery mildew of the oak-tree) and treat it if necessary. Check the good functioning of the irrigation system; Keep on or start working again on the lines with tools. Hand-working is still possible on the best "brûlés" provided that you do not turn the land over. Water the young plants as early as the first hot days to help the growth and to help the tree to resist to periods of dryness.

It is time to mulch in dry areas: damp mulching on damp soil.          

 

JUNE

Check the grass growth in the small plantations using tools between the lines. Partly cover the truffle "brûlés" with branches. Start watering if necessary. Remove with tools or with chemicals suckers the hazel-trees. Keep an eye on the good condition of the truffle plants. Check the state of the electric fence and put up protections against wild boars.

Water young plants every 10 or 15 days if it is very hot or dry.

In June is the most important growth of trees for truffles.

 

JULY

Start watering of the producinq "brûlés" in the plantations ( 20mm every 15 to 20 days). Water young plants. Check the state of the electric fence to protect  the plantation against wild boars, especially on watered trees. Search Summer truffles Tuber aestivum to train a young dog to retrieve. Locate the producer trees of this kind and you can even put these truffles on sale. Prune old and sterile trees to recover branches and cover partly the good "brûlés".

 

AUGUST

Water the producing "brûlés" (20mn every 7 or 10 days) and the young plants to protect them from dryness. Put a few branches on the best "brûlés" watered or not. Keep an eye as well on the forming of superficial truffles as early as the end of August and cover with soil the visible ones.

Remove once again suckers on the truffle hazel-trees. Keep an eye on wild boars intrusions in the watered areas. Trim and cut old trees in the plantations in process of maintenance. Check the growth of vegetation in the young plantations helping you with grinders.

 

SEPTEMBER

Keep on watering producing trees if necessary. Locate the truffles and cover the most visible ones with branches. Keep an eye on the field mice attacks as well as the wild boars attacks. Check the good functioning of the electric fence especially in the hunting season. Keep on trimming and cutting old trees in the plantations in process of maintenance. 

 

OCTOBER

Water the producing trees if it has not rained for one month (risk of woody truffles). Plough the piece of land which will be planted the next Winter and start to make holes for planting remote trees. Remove branches on "brûlés" if Autumn is damp. Cover the visible truffles. Keep an eye on field mice attacks, slugs as well as wild boars which could be trapped in the plantation (electric fence) after having been hunted in beats. Order mycorhized plants. Treat the brambles with chemicals. Store bundles of straw under plastic covers on the edge of good plantations to cover the best "brûlés" in case of cold spell.

 

NOVEMBER

Harvest first truffles but put them back in the ground to serve as seeds if they are not ripe enough. Prepare the soil of the future plantation

(ploughing, holes, posts). Plant if the weather is nice (wait Spring for green oak trees). Keep still an eye on field mice attacks, slugs and wild boars. Cover the best "brûlés" with straw if a cold spell is announced.

 

DECEMBER

Harvest truffles every week and even more often in case of risk of poaching. Sort truffles by kinds and categories, then clean correctly these truffles according to the rules of the market. Pay attention to attacks of field mice, slugs and wild boars. Plant young trees and keep on making holes to plant remote trees in February and March of the coming year. Cover the best "brûlés" with straw if it is freezing cold.

 

JANUARY

Harvest truffles every week. Cover the best "brûlés" with straw if it is freezing cold. The truffle freezes if the temperature is around -8° to -10°C

for 3 to 5 mornings in succession. We will not harvest if the soil is frozen or in the process of thaw. If winter is warm do not forget to put traps against field mice and voles. Stake out and plant young truffle plants.

 

FEBRUARY

Harvest , protect, plant and cut . Do not try to harvest the very latest truffles if the end of the season is coming. These ones will make up seeds or "inoculum" which improve the potential of the plantation. February and March are recommended for planting green oaks. Check the good functioning of the electric fence if wild boars are likely to come and damage young plants. You can start to cut trees in mature plantations if harvest is finished.

 

MARCH

The harvest is coming to an end. "CAVER" the truffles, and keep the small ones to serve as seeds or "inoculum". Plant the mycorhized truffle-trees and especially green oak trees and water so as to ensure a good growth.

Check the good order of the electric fence to protect young plants from wild boars. Remove the protective pipes (mini green-houses) in the one year old plantations (if the plant is higher than the mini green-house) and put up a wire fence against roes. Remove the straw which served to protect the "brûlés". Cut the young and older trees since it is best time to do it. Start to work in the old plantations: cut the trees, thin them out, prune the remaining trees, plough and break the roots of old truffle-trees. A superficial work of the soil can be done in mature plantations with tools.