Before Christmas my teammates Xavi and Monica were in Chile coordinating the production of 20,000 Quercus ilex mycorrhized with black truffle in http://www.viverotrufas.cl facilities.
We organized as well a technical visit in the field open to a large group of truffle growers, on a plantation of black truffle just planted last year, in order to answer all technical questions of handling and managing their plantations in the early stages.
Results of our research project where we created the standard curve in which quantifies, throughout the year, the amount of truffle mycelium in the soil were presented for different ages of oak . In this project an exclusive program of monitoring and control of plantations through new molecular techniques for Real Time PCR allows us to quantify the truffle response to the different treatments in an orchard.
It is worth commenting that a few months ago, the Truffle Growers Association of Chile (ATChile) has its active site, which will have information of truffle cultivation in Chile and information for its members:
http://www.atchile.cl/
Regards,
Marcos Morcillo
trufflefarming 