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All the major forest species and most agricultural and horticultural species have mycorrhizas (pronounced my-core-rye-zas), beneficial, symbiotic relationships between certain fungi with the roots. The fungus gets carbohydrates from the plant and a place to live and, in exchange, the fungus supplies the plant with minerals, in particular phosphorus. Mycorrhizas fall into two groups: ectomycorrhizas where the fungus is predominantly on the surface of the root, and endomycorrhizas where much of the fungus is inside the root.

Most commercial mushrooms are grown in factories where the artificial conditions are managed to ensure quality products, maximum yields and greatest profit. The button mushroom, shiitake, oyster mushroom and straw mushroom all fall into this category. Another group are formed by ectomycorrhizal fungi.
While the Périgord black truffle and the Italian white truffle are regarded as the diamonds of the mycorrhizal mushrooms, there are over 1000 species and some are in great demand with prices ranging from a few tens of dollars up to several thousand dollars per kilogram. For example, porcini and the chanterelle together have a market worth more than £1 billion. Like the vast majority of mycorrhizal mushrooms, porcini and chanterelle have never been cultivated and supplies are collected entirely from the wild.
Progress has been pedestrian since the Périgord black truffle was first cultivated in the first half of the 19th century. However, over the past 30 years scientists have begun to unlock the secrets to growing other mycorrhizal mushrooms and the wonderful array of flavours they have to offer. They have also imported these very seasonal mushrooms into the Southern Hemisphere where they can be grown out-of-season to the Northern Hemisphere. De Licio® was established to produce trees mycorrhized with edible mycorrhizal mushrooms for establishing specialised plantations or the production of secondary crops in plantation forests.

Mycorrhizal mushrooms grow on a variety of plantation forest species familiar to the New Zealand forester. However, the initial treatment the mycorrhized trees receive is somewhat different from the two slots in the ground with a spade and heeling in that a plantation forest tree might receive. The minimum tree specifications that a forester might expect are also unlikely to be met because the mycorrhized trees are raised under specialised conditions in a greenhouse and are planted when the trees are adequately mycorrhized even if relatively small.

The first mycorrhizal mushrooms to be cultivated were the Périgord black and the Burgundy truffles back in the first part of the 19th Century. Some 150 years later scientists have begun to unlock the secrets of a few other mycorrhizal mushrooms and the wonderful array of flavours they have to offer. They have also learnt how to grow these very seasonal mushrooms in the Southern Hemisphere out-of-season to the Northern Hemisphere.
Each of the mycorrhizal mushrooms with their host trees require a unique set of conditions to grow and fruit. The bianchetto truffle will fruit on more than a dozen host trees such as the stone pine, hazel and English oak but only if they are planted in high pH, lime-rich soils and in areas with warm summers.
The Painted bolete only grows on Douglas fir and in relatively low pH, free-draining soils, in sheltered areas between 300 m and 800 m in the North Island, such as on the volcanic plateau, and up to 700 m in the South Island.
The saffron milk cap only grows on acidic soils suited to radiata pine and has been found to fruit from just north of Dunedin to Nelson in the South Island and as far north as Gisborne and the Waikato in the North Island. We are confident it will also grow in Southland.

The harvest and sale of truffles or mushrooms during the life of a forest will offset the cost of establishing the plantation and, under some circumstances, the income from the sale of the truffles and mushrooms may exceed the value of the timber. Even modest quantities of truffles and mushrooms may be sufficient for a grower to delay felling a plantation until timber prices are optimal.

Here is a swollen root tip that has been infected by the bianchetto mycorrhiza.

Orange mycorrhizas of Saffron Milkcap in the engine room of a mycorrhizal mushroom

Painted bolete fruiting in a natural site

A tray of bianchetto truffles (with a few extra truffles) harvested and ready to be sorted and cleaned before being sold and eaten

Introductory articles on edible mushrooms courtesy of NZ Lifestyle Farmer

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