Dave Santos looks at next year’s fruiting buds on an organic Coral Champagne cherry tree. Because synthetic growth regulators can’t be used in organic cherries, lateral branches are tied and cracked to encourage precocity and fruitfulness. Disease and insects are not the most worrisome pests in the organic blocks of a California stone fruit grower and shipper. Weed management is the bugaboo. “Weed control is the toughest part of being organic,” said Dave Santos, partner in Lucich and Santos Farms of Patterson, California, one of the state’s largest fresh-market apricot growers and shippers. About 120 acres of their 800 acres […]