The truffle orchards of Domaine de Saint-Géry are located on arid, poor soils on the Quercy Blanc plateaus, formed from lacustrine limestone dating back 30 million years, where truffle oaks grow naturally.
Since 1989, we have been planting various species on this Quercy Blanc limestone plateau every year.
Oaks, of course: holm oaks, downy oaks, kermes oaks, Turkey oaks, and also common or Turkish hazel trees. All these plants are mycorrhized with Tuber melanosporum.
When are truffles harvested?
From late December to early March.
Over the years, we have conducted (and continue to conduct) numerous trials on associations with other crops (lavender, vines, truffle wheat, etc.), pruning, tree spacing, green manure (planting bird's-foot trefoil, sainfoin, etc.), soil cultivation, and grazing. This makes this truffle orchard a unique, full-scale experimental site in France.
The truffle is a pioneer fungus that takes time to develop and requires light. If left alone, the tree will cast too much shade before the truffle is ready to produce.
Our work as truffle “growers” consists, on one hand, of fostering soil life so that it provides the best nourishment for the truffle and the ideal environment for it to thrive.
On the other hand, it involves maintaining the tree without stressing it, ensuring the symbiosis with the truffle works by always allowing light to reach the ground.
This is not a Cartesian form of cultivation; nature dictates the rules, not man.
This approach aims to create an ecosystem where plants live in symbiosis and the soil is alive (essential for truffle production), reducing or even eliminating the risk of disease.
Objective: to grow truffles, wheat, and vines without any treatments.
The truffle is invisible because it lives underground, yet it “marks” its territory and shapes the landscape.
The terrain where it thrives is unmistakable. One must scan the landscape to discover its garden...
Human intervention is necessary but not sufficient. The truffle needs allies “on the ground”. Sheep or horses do the “housekeeping,” clearing the land of brush and the trees of excess branches.
By doing this, they ensure it receives light. It is also they who nourish the land where it likes to grow. Man’s primary role is, in fact, to help them do this work.
But the truffle also has other precious accomplices in the subsoil: earthworms, who spend their time aerating its home.
Logically, the truffle avoids land where everything is done “backwards”: excessive mechanisation, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, an absence of animals, and so on.
When everyone does their work, the truffle finally applies its “seal”: the “brûlé”, that grassless circle at the foot of the trees. There, we can say: we are in its home.
A word of caution: this does not mean it is there, but it can appear at any moment... as it pleases.
We have been observing and attempting to tame it in our truffle orchards for 30 years.
Truffle lexicon
The “brûlé”
A circular mark on the ground around the truffle tree where little or no grass grows, marking the areas of natural truffle development. It is the visual indicator of truffle mycorrhizal colonization.
Truffle hunting (cavage)
Harvesting truffles with the help of a dog, a fly, or a pig. The black truffle season runs from late December to early March.
Gleba
The inner part of the truffle, alternating between sterile (white) and fertile (black) zones.
Peridium
The “skin” or “bark” of the truffle; its rough outer surface.
Notching (canifer)
Making a small incision in the truffle with a knife to ensure its quality.
