I want to grow chantrelles, Boletus edulis, matsutake, or truffles. How can I do it?
All of these species require association with a live tree to produce mushrooms, which makes them poor candidates for cultivation. Of these four, only chantrelles have been grown "in captivity," and then only by heroic measures which the hobbyist will not likely duplicate. There is also little evidence that any of the first three of these species can be deliberately introduced into a chosen outdoor plot where they are not already growing, either by spore slurries or mycelial transfer. The one exception is truffles, where tree seedlings have been successfully inoculated with spores from European truffles, and the trees have been grown to maturity in the US, eventually producing truffles. (For information on acquiring truffle tree seedlings, visit www.truffletrees.com.) There is also some indication that Oregon white and black truffles can be introduced into suitable groves of Douglas fir trees by spore slurry inoculation. But because of unsuitable weather conditions for truffle growth in Oregon recently, it may be a number of years before this possibility can be clearly confirmed or disproven.
You may freely copy and distribute the information on this webpage to friends or colleagues, as long as you include the following notice:
This document is Copyright: ©1999 by Randall R. Wayne, Ph.D. All commercial rights are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used for sale in any form or by any means without permission of the author.