Grower
  commitments
 
 
     
 
 
  • To cultivate the Green PUY Lentils without fertilizer
  • To respect the sowing dates
  • To respect cultivation advice, drawn up in the form of farming warnings by Clermont-Ferrand plant protection
  • To respect rotations (2 to 3 years) between two crops of GREEN PUY LENTILS
  • No addition of water, as irrigation of the crop is forbidden.
   
 
   

The specifications forbid the use of fertilizer. In any case, the soil of the VELAY is sufficiently rich to cover the needs of the Green PUY Lentil. No fertilization trials carried out in the region have ever enabled yields to be improved

  • Ploughing:
    from November to February.
    The Green PUY Lentil requires clean, smooth soil, compact deeper down and fine at the surface which is fairly dry. The “red” fields are characteristic of the earth in the Haute-Loire.
  • Sowing:
    from March to April when the soil temperature is 5°, with the ANICIA variety.
    Tradition has it that the Green PUY Lentil should be sown “with the old moon” (last quarter ) for this favours sprouting of the seeds (the new moon favours the growth of stalks and leaves).
    Sown in rows 15 to 20 cm apart, at a depth of 2 or 3 cm.
    350 seeds to the square meter or 100 kg to the hectare.
  • Harvest:
    20th July / 15th September.
   
   
 
   
  The heart of the Haute-Loire is protected from the rain-bearing winds by mountain ranges. The rain disturbances have to cross these natural barriers. It is the Foëhn phenomenon that has several effects on the weather: absence or reduction in rainfall and thinning or disappearance of clouds, whence remarkable sunshine, particularly noticeable in July and August.
   
 

SUNSHINE AND HEAT

  • Bordeaux, Toulouse      515 hours
  • Clermont-Ferrand          475 hours
  • Bourges                           470 hours
  • Limoges                          440 hours
  • Le Puy en Velay              520 hours