Some very exciting news- earlier this autumn we received photos from our welsh plantation showing a very distinct ‘brûlé’. A brûlé is a burnt-looking patch of ground, devoid of vegetation underneath the tree caused by the truffle fungus- these normally take several years to appear and signal imminent onset of fruiting of the truffle. This is particularly exciting as they have appeared on around 70-80% of trees planted last winter! With an average age of 9months (from planting), these results are every exciting indeed,

The beginning of October saw an exciting e-mail arrive at Mycorrhizal Systems HQ. We received a claim that the most expensive white truffle species, Tuber magnatum, had been found by a gardener in Southern England. Descriptions in the e-mail of the truffle and how/where it was found seemed to substantiate the claim. However, after a request for a sample for DNA testing the ‘truffle finder’ disappeared. Did he really find white truffles and disappear to sell his hoard? Or did the alleged find turn out to be something else and the embarrassment prevent further contact?

Mycorrhizal Systems is still making waves across South Africa. This month they have been filling the airwaves, appeared in yet more magazine articles and have recently also received national TV exposure. For further details and information on truffle cultivation in South Africa please contact us

Whilst northern hemisphere truffle hunters are busying themselves in the summer truffle season, July is harvesting time for the Perigord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) in the southern hemisphere.