"Bob Weinberger" wrote in message ...
"Daniel B. Wheeler" wrote in message
om...
From The Oregon Journal, Oct. 15, 1980

Truffles...they're not trifles

snip of interesting article

Posted as a courtesy by
Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

Dan,
Since this is not the first article you have posted showing considerable interest in growing truffles
by entrenpreneurs about 20 years ago, I have to ask - after about 2 decades how many operations are
making any significant net income by raising truffles in the PNW?

Excellent and penetrating question, Bob. The only one with a net
income is mine. I'm not so sure how "significant" that is.G

Those who first started trying to grow truffles in the US almost
uniformly tried to grow species not native here. And for the most
part, they didn't succeed. And yet...Dr. James Trappe did supervise
perhaps the largest truffle plantation in the world (financed in part
by the Kuwaiti Development Corp.) in Northern Spain. That plantation
is now producing a significant portion of the crop of French Black
truffles (Tuber melanosporum). (Of course Spain is outside of the
PNW.)

Of the hundreds, if not thousands of people who attempted to grow T.
melanosporum in the PNW and elsewhere, only a few ever got the
mycelium to remain. Why? T. melanosporum fruits at a relatively short
range of pH: 7.5-8.3, I believe. At the upper range, almost no other
plant life survives. The PNW is known for its acidic rainfall. So even
if a truffle plantation were established 5 years ago, the soil pH has
likely changed. Maintaining such a high soil pH is costly and time
consuming.

OTOH, growing naturally occuring truffles has been productive. The
demand for truffle is still not as great as it apparently is in
Europe. And since it is nearly impossible to ship truffles now to
Europe since 9/11, most American truffles get eaten by native animal
life. (I'm proud to include myself in the fauna.)

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com