Devoto Gardens

FARMLAND: 20 acres in Sebastopol, about 60 miles to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

PEOPLE: Stan and Susan Devoto and their children, Christina, Jolie, and Cecily (who help at the farmers’ market), along with 3 full-time and 3 seasonal employees

FARM HISTORY/PHILOSOPHY: Since 1976, Stan and Susan Devoto have been growing heirloom apples and specialty cut flowers. They started their farm with 2.5 acres of apples and gradually expanded. Today, they grow flowers and over fifty varieties of apples. The Devotos are proud to grow all of their products with care towards sustaining their employees, family, and farm.They maintain soil fertility by adding compost, aged manure, and raw vegetable matter; mulching; and planting cover crops. They use Integrated Pest Management techniques to minimize synthetic pesticide applications. At their 7-acre Santa Rosa growing site, they irrigate with tertiary-treated recycled water and don’t use any synthetic chemicals.

SOIL: Gold Ridge Loam is built with compost, cover crops, and crop stubble. The soil is fertilized with synthetic and organic fertilizers, i.e., aged manure, raw organic matter, and compost.

WEED CONTROL: Hand and machine cultivation.

PEST MANAGEMENT: Integrated Pest Management including: release of beneficials, habitat creation for beneficials, application of synthetic and organic pesticides, and pheromone disruption. Use of resistant varieties and crop rotation control diseases.

WATER USE: The apples are dry farmed, and the flowers are irrigated with well water via drip lines . The organic acreage is irrigated with tertiary-treated recycled water from the City of Santa Rosa.

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION: None