Here is an email from Dominique Soltner, giving his experience.
Here is an experiment, of which I have a photo of all the stages, under the title:“After the raspberries”.
Comparing two beautiful beds of raspberries, one remontant, the other not, I decided to abandon the non-remontants:the remontants do not produce as much but infinitely more (…)
We therefore mow at the base the non ascending ones, with the brushcutter, and leave this ligneous mass on the spot (flower bed of 15×1.30 m). The passage of the microtractor crushes everything.
We add in October-November a thick layer of old hay and then dead leaves. Spend the winter.
In spring the decomposition of the whole was such that it is easy to open planting holes for tomatoes. A few rare shoots are easily removed, but overall the raspberries did not like it and do not insist.
Result: I had never used so little watering before. Virtually nothing until July. Magnificent harvest. Then, the 2009 drought having been severe here, with a total absence of storms, I installed a drip, but sparingly.
This woody mass in contact with the ground is similar to the brf, whose users all point out that it generates such humus that it greatly increases water retention. No wonder since lignin is the basic component of stable humus.
After those tomatoes , the mulch having practically disappeared, I will again spread the usual autumn mulch based mainly on fallen leaves.
I will soon post this experience on www.agriculture-de-conservation.com , who is willing to entrust me with a space “TCS garden”(… )
See you soon, and I continue to visit the list of articles of which, for the moment, I have only read the raspberry subject. Here I go!
Sincerely. Dominique Soltner"
Thanks to Dominique Soltner for his feedback.
