Idea for a profitable business - growing truffles at home
Truffles are considered the most valuable mushrooms, and the matter is not at all in their nutritional composition, although the mushrooms are really tasty. It's just that this species does not grow everywhere in its natural environment, and it is very difficult to find it. And growing truffles at home is a truly laborious, troublesome and very costly process. Although it is worth it, because the price of such mushrooms allows you to reimburse all costs, however, this will take a lot of time.
Truffles are a marsupial mushroom with an unusual tuberous body, like a potato. They grow underground, forming a mycorrhiza with the root system of certain deciduous trees, mainly with oak, hornbeam, beech or hazel. Most often, black truffles are grown artificially. They are not as expensive as white ones, but less whimsical.
Growing truffles at home in the open field
It is much more difficult to obtain planting material on your own than in the case of mushrooms. In addition to buying mycelium, it is necessary to infect a suitable plant with it, and only then there will be a chance for a harvest.
First, mycorrhiza is grown:
- young seedlings of oak or hazel are acquired;
- infect them with truffle mycelium;
- planting plants in a nursery, always with sterile conditions;
- in the spring, oak trees are planted with mycelium on their roots in a permanent place and mulch well.
The truffle area needs to be prepared. While the mycelium is growing, the soil is cleared of all weeds, dug well, enriched with humus and calcium.
And the most important condition is that its acidity must be at least 8. In natural conditions, spores are transmitted not by the wind, but by animals that eat mushrooms. Being in the stomach, they stay in an acidic environment, and after the animals empty the intestines, they germinate only in places where similar conditions exist.
To increase the chances of success, it is better to buy already infected mycelium seedlings and immediately plant them in open ground. This is very convenient, especially if it is not possible to organize a sterile nursery for growing mycorrhiza.
How to grow truffles artificially indoors
If there is no room for an oak grove on the site, you can grow mushrooms at home, using cellars and greenhouses for this. Instead of a partner plant, mycorrhiza can be planted on oak sawdust. And then transplant the mycelium into a special soil mixture based on peat substrate, fallen leaves and crushed oak branches.
It is worth noting that both the greenhouse and the basement must be carefully prepared. They are treated with antifungal agents, the floors are concreted in order to exclude infection with pathogenic fungi. The premises must have lighting, ventilation and heating in order to receive crops all year round.In greenhouses, the roof is additionally painted over to protect the mushrooms from sunlight. They do not need bright and constant lighting, because in nature they grow underground.
Summing up, it is worth noting that, regardless of where the truffles will be grown, in the open field or in a greenhouse, the first harvest will not be earlier than in 4-5 years. Sometimes you have to wait twice as long. And in some cases, the mycelium does not take root at all, it is so whimsical. But if everything goes well, after a dozen years you can get a decent income selling mushrooms to restaurants.