Aloha!
We’re Al and Joan Santoro and we own and operate Poamoho Organic Produce located in Waialua on the North Shore of Oahu. Nothing in our previous careers prepared us, in any way, for life as organic farmers, but we have grown to love life on the farm! Al was a career Naval Intelligence officer, while Joan was a computer systems engineer for a major defense contractor. We’ve taken our 7 acre lot from fallow, former sugar cane land, covered with guinea grass weeds, to a thriving certified organic tropical fruit orchard, the largest on Oahu.

Our philosophy for organic farming is to implement the USDA national organic standards through permaculture farm practices which integrate poly-culture of multiple plant and animal species and contribute to an overall natural, harmonious and healthy growing environment.  Over the past 7 years we have created our own micro-environment that imitates nature with the use of natural systems to manage soil nutrients, control insects, and conserve precious natural resources.

Integration of animals is a key part of our micro-environment. Our dogs keep away wild pigs and strangers; our cats are responsible for controlling the field mice population. We raise bees for the primary purpose of pollinating the many fruit tree varieties. In return, we benefit from the delicious and flavorful honey they produce. Free-ranging chickens and ducks do their best to control the population of ants, snails and slugs on the farm. They also provide us with free fertilizer and of course fresh eggs! But perhaps their most important contribution is field sanitation as they forage on fallen fruit which reduces insect build-up.

Pest management is a process in which we attempt to create a natural balance of harmful and helpful insects. One example is the use of ladybugs to control the aphid population. Aphids can be quite destructive to citrus trees and spread viruses like Banana Bunchy Top Virus. Ladybugs, which feed on aphids, naturally control the aphid population. Theoretically, we’d have a perfect 50% balance of each, but we have to let nature control that to a large extent. We use pheromone lures and natural bacterial solutions as an organic method to control fruit flies.

Nutrient management refers to promoting healthy soil, and thus healthy tree growth and fruit production. We believe that healthy trees are the primary defense against insect damage. Only in the instance of noticeable fruit or plant damage, do we take proactive action. At such times, we use a homemade spray solution of organically approved natural substances, such as Neem from our own trees. We have also planted a ground cover as a green manure/cover crop.  This ground cover, “Golden Glory” (Arachis pintoi), is a perennial related to the peanut and is nitrogen fixing, thereby contributing its nitrogen to the soil. 

We harvest our fruit just at the point where it begins to ripen without the use of ripening agents. This allows the flavors and sugars to develop naturally on the tree, which ensures the freshest and tastiest fruit for our customers. We hope you will enjoy the best tropical organic fruit you can buy in Hawaii. Look for our produce sticker to ensure you’re getting the real thing!