Orchard.

We grow 15 acres of mixed fruit trees.

We are not conventional & we are not organic.

We use the Integrated Pest Management, a process for managing pests in an effective, economical and environmentally sound way.  Methods range from preventative and cultural measures to the use of biological, physical, behavioral and chemical controls. 

We practice prevention instead of reaction as much as possible.

We only spray if we need.

Pruning and Thinning every single tree, every year, creates airflow to prevent diseases and allows no or minimal spray.

Since we sell directly to the market we are lucky we can sell our marked or imperfect crops for a discount, so there’s less waste and less sprays.

We are always trying new methods, such as bark mulch for weed control around the sprinklers

We keep our orchards clean, dead wood out of the orchard, grass mowed & branches mulched all intentionally to help keep pests from over wintering and mice from damaging the trees.

Oh, and we have an amazing team that keeps up with all the hard work. Tim, is our all star weedwhacker and ground maintenance which is a huge pest management control. Every farm needs a Tim.

Labour costs are one of our biggest costs, and  in order to keep our prices fair and reasonable, sometimes we use conventional methods to save time.

We are not organic because we use synthetic fertilizer, herbicide in some orchards and use conventional sprays only if  its at risk of the crop.

If you would like to know more about a specific crop please email us with any questions at info@payntersfruitmarket.ca

Garden.

We grow 15 acres of mixed veggie, melons and herbs

Not convention or organic

Only if absolutely necessary we will only use spray for the garden. Usually its later in the season and only for a couple crops.

We label everything at the Market if it is Spray Free

We grow in black plastic to keep the weeds down, soil warm & use less water.

Everything in the fall is left to decompose for nutrients and we make sure to keep the gardens clean so no pests overwinter.  

We spread left over strawbales in the fall over the gardens.

We are not organic in the garden. We use seeds that aren’t certified, synthetic fertilizers and plastic mulch and only if we will loose the crop we will use a conventional spray

Always experimenting with new ideas. We spread rye in between rows for weed control and cover crop.

Again, it is the crew that make it work. Hard labour & love. Everything is done manually…weeding, harvesting & keeping it clean really help prevent diseases and use of unnecessary sprays.