Tag: <span>orchard management</span>

Tag: orchard management

WEEDS and PESTS – Love ‘em or Leave ‘em – TRAPI

Managing weeds can be a challenge in truffle orchards while insects and other invertebrate pests are a significant threat to truffle quality and yields. Weeds in many orchard systems are effectively controlled at low cost using herbicides, but there are potential risks that residues will affect truffle quality and quality, so many growers prefer non-chemical practices. Some non-chemical approaches include cover crops, mulching, mowing, cultivation and biocontrol. Invertebrate pests can enter and consume truffles leaving unappealing damage that lowers market value. Threats come from native fungivores and there is a looming threat that European pests will eventually impact truffle crops. Host trees are also susceptible to insect damage with the potential to decrease yields or cause tree mortality. This TRAPI webinar will consider managing weed and insect pests…

Edible fungi crops through mycoforestry, potential for carbon negative food production and mitigation of food and forestry conflicts

Demand for agricultural land is a potent accelerating driver of global deforestation, presenting multiple interacting issues at different spatiotemporal scales. Here we show that inoculating the root system of tree planting stock with edible ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) can reduce the food-forestry land-use conflict, enabling appropriately managed forestry plantations to contribute to protein and calorie production and potentially increasing carbon sequestration.

Having the right tools is half the battle – TRAPI

Webinar Recorded 10/17/2022. This is NATGA’s first webinar under the TRAPI umbrella. We highlight the current tools and technologies using DNA to characterize fungal species and populations present in truffle orchards. The team discussed what these genetic tools are and what they can tell us, how these insights might be applied to management, and how current and emerging genetic technologies may help us to provide better information on the living communities present in your orchard.

Basic experimental concepts for testing management options in truffle orchards with Mark Coleman and Shannon Berch

Truffle growers have a lot of ideas and information available on management practices necessary to produce truffles. Sometimes ideas conflict, it is not clear what level of a treatment is most effective, or you have an off-the-wall idea to try. We can test our ideas and decide which practices work best using basic experimental methods. This webinar reviews those methods and encourages the sharing of results to help us all learn. The discussion will include how to use controlled experiments to test approaches or ideas, i.e., your hypothesis, and consider different types of variables, experimental subjects, replication, controls, and how to decide if observed responses are meaningful. We will also consider some essentials that make it easy to document the justification, approach, and results of your test. Beyond these basic requirements, understanding basic experimental practices is essential to successfully host meaningful research conducted by truffle scientists.

Is Tuber brumale a Threat to T. melanosporum and T. aestivum Plantations?

i F o r e s t: Biogeosciences and Forestry, Research Article: True truffles in the genus Tuber are the most valuable ectomycorrhizal fungi and their cultivation has become widespread around the world. Competition with other ectomycorrhizal fungi and especially with undesired Tuber species

Testing your trees for colonization: The Why’s & How’s by Inga Meadows

Truffle farming can be a rewarding experience when truffles are found, but the years between planting your seedlings and before your first harvest can keep you on the edge of your seat! You can take some of the guesswork out of it by having your roots examined for the mycorrhizal association of interest. This webinar will give you an understanding of why and how to have your trees tested, how we do the various tests in the lab, and which truffle fungi we can detect.

[Webinar] Olivia Martin-Taylor: Industry Integrity, Truffle Grading, Coop and Collective Development, and How to Managing an Aging Orchard

The burgeoning truffle industry in North America has the unique opportunity to establish standards that ensure the highest levels of product quality and measures to ensure industrial integrity. To address industry and product integrity we can take simple actions at different points in the cultivation process. The industry can take steps to prevent contaminant truffle species from entering the market. These steps include setting industry seedling standards and a comprehensive system of truffle grading.