Organic Espoma is "Hip!"

Do you want luscious plants that look amazing and thrive, but without the use of chemicals?  Join Bonnie for a conversation about Organic Espoma and why it does wonders for your plants.

https://youtu.be/bQCObBXCRW4https://yardstopgardencenter.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up guys? Thanks for joining the Yardstop Garden Center podcast. I'm Emily, and today our guest speaker is Miss Bonnie. Miss Bonnie is the territory sales manager for Espoma. And if you've shopped at the Yard Stop before, you know that we carry Espoma products. For those of you who are not familiar with Espoma, Miss Bonnie is going to tell us everything about it today from what it is exactly, how you use it, and why you should try it out to improve your plants. Miss Bonnie, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Well, thank you for inviting me. There's not ever an occasion where I am not excited to talk about a spoma in gardening. So I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah, and I know we've had you come and do a class for the staff here. You did. And it was amazing. Oh, yeah. You do it really. I can tell you know exactly what you're talking about because you've worked with the spoma for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

It's hard to find it's hard to fool um good gardeners.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Yeah, and you are you are a good gardener for sure. Um, so can you tell us how you got started with the spoma and also a little bit more about what you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Sure. So it's really kind of crazy. I was simply a lawn and garden um distributor salesperson, so I sold all kinds of uh products that would go into a garden shop, you know, chemicals, um, tools, everything that a garden shop might purchase. And I had the opportunity to uh be a um cap team captain on a bus tour of garden center owners and vendors in the Tidewater area of Virginia. And um, during that bus trip, the son of the owner of Aspoma was on the bus tour, and we got to chatting a little bit, and I didn't sell as much Aspoma as I did some chemicals, and he was really just grilling me about why I didn't do it and why to the point where we ended up in a garden center and we almost missed the bus. Oh my gosh. So it was just one of those chance meetings, but we really hit it off, and um, unbeknownst to me, when he got back to New Jersey, he told his dad if they ever had an opening, he'd like to talk to me. And then several years later, I got a phone call, and as they say, the rest is history. So you were like recruited almost, but not against your will. Right, right, and um um it's really cute. Uspum often will say they brought me over from the dark side, so no more chemicals or synthetics or anything, they just pretty got me into it, yeah, spot on. Yeah, okay. So I've happily been there. This will be my 20th year. Wow, yeah, that's really exciting. It is.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

So they brought you over from the dark side, which makes sense. Chemicals versus organic is you know, obviously different. There's difference.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

So tell us the difference. Well, anything that's uh chemical or synthetic is you know manufactured in a synthetic fashion. It's just not it's not of nature. Um organics have to be uh plant origin, mineral origin, or um the source has to be organic. So um, you know, all of synthetic fertilizers in particular release automatically as soon as they get wet. They're all water soluble, they release as soon as they get wet. So they're not as beneficial for the plant. They give it that little quick jolt immediately, like a highly caffeinated coffee drink, which will pump you up right away. But then you have that crash. So plants will have the same kind of crash, whereas uh natural and organic products are just such a natural slow feed that they provide nutrients over a longer period of time. And plants are really, really smart, they only take up what they need right at the moment. So if your plant doesn't need that big bolt of energy right then, they don't take it. And the unfortunate part is all of that, all those nutrients in these synthetics, whatever the plant doesn't take up, they end up leaching, which means they translocate down into the soil and eventually end up in a waterway somewhere. Wow. So we don't want that to happen. I always tell everybody when you're using these uh water-soluble blue crystals and things like that, and you mix it in your water, you're creating little plant drug addicts. They've got to have their blue juice or they're not gonna perform.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Whereas this is just a nice slow natural process.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

So and what I guess obviously in these bags it consists of a lot, but what do these bags consist of?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So all of our tone, which is really kind of the foundation of our company, what we call the tone family, you know, holly tone, plant tone, garden tone, citrus, uh tone, various tones you see here. They're all uh poultry manure based. Okay, um, and they also include uh dried blood, bone meal, alfalfa meal, green sand, uh soft rot phosphate. So they're all a blend of uh materials that would occur in nature. And we just blend them up, and there are subtle differences in each of the bags that make them specific to what's on the front of the bag. So while they appear to be similar, if you read the ingredients, there are subtle differences again that make them specific to what's on the front of the bag.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

And I feel like all of them are amazing, but which one's the best seller?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Number one, regardless of what state we're in, is the infamous Holytone. Okay, I feel like I remember you touching on this in our class. I did. So organic Holytone. Holy Tone. It's the number one acid-loving plant food sold in America. Um, and we were the first company to actually develop uh plant food for all acid-loving plants, which are all listed on the side of the bag in alphabetical order. Okay, we love order, we love directions that are easy to read and follow, right? Yeah. So again, Holytone is our number one seller. I would tell you that probably the reaction I get more when I say a spoma is like, oh, okay. But the moment I say Holytone, almost certainly someone or a lot of some ones will go, oh, Holytone, I know Holytone. My grandmother used Holytone. We've always used Holytone. So a lot of people think we're really the Holytone company rather than a spoma with a family. Although that is not as prevalent now. Um, you know, we've just grown so much that um we're widely known.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

So we are a national company. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

I don't think I knew that part. Yes, we are a national company. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Um, and I always like to mention we've been in business since 1929. I read that on your website, I was like, wow. That to me, that's just amazing. You know, you cannot be in business as long as we have been and be as successful as we are if your product doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

So just the you know, the fact that our product works so well that we can be in business since 1929, I think says a lot. Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

So I know you all also do soil, the Espoma Organic Soil. Um, how important how important is the soil as well as the fertilizer? Because the two work together. So is the soil, like if you have crappy soil and you use a spoma organic fertilizer, are you gonna get the same results versus using organic soil, organic good soil and the organic fertilizer?

SPEAKER_00 7:58

So that's uh an involved question. So I'll try to keep it short. Anytime that you can add organic matter to your soil, it's helpful always, whether it's fertilization, organic fertilization, or aga organic soils and amendments. There's a saying in the industry um that it starts with the soil, and that is so true. When you've got poor soil conditions, anytime you can add organic matter to it. So for us, like we have um dehydrated cow manure, we've got mushroom compost, we've got land and sea compost with crab and lobster meal in it, and then our potting mixes and our in-ground mixes also contain um mycorrhizae, which is explain that. Oh, it's so magic. It is so magic. Mycorrhizae is really um organic fungi that attaches itself to the root system of plant material. Okay, and it searches for moisture and nutrients for which it has zero use. And what it does is collect surrounding moisture and nutrients and brings it back and feeds it to the plant roots. Well, it doesn't feed it, it trades it for carbohydrates. Plants uh produce carbohydrates, also known as sugar, sugar feeds fungus. And it is the magic in our biotone starter plus as well. Wow, yeah. That that's amazing. I mean, our of course I work for Espoma, but our products are just so wonderful. And you know, we take a lot of pride in the quality of our products and the production of our packaging. Um our our company is family owned and operated. We're fourth generation, we've got some fifth generation just getting ready to join us, and that to me is remarkable too. Yeah, and you know, a lot of garden centers, most garden centers are family oriented as well. So, you know, we feel like we've got that to share with all of our garden centers.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah, that's amazing. That's a lot. You're giving more than just you're you're doing more than just a transaction for a customer. You are it's like there's history.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

A caring family, a caring family of gardeners is really what we are. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Well, would you say that the Florida climate here is moist and with summer coming? Are one of these products best for that time for Florida?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Or is that just so I would say for Florida, it is a little different in that you do have a lot of moisture and a lot of heat, and it comes sooner than other areas. So that's wonderful for gardeners. It's also wonderful, really, when you're using the organic products, it's really wonderful for that too. Um, we do spray all of our tones with a beneficial bacteria package. So think probiotics for your plant. Right. All bacteria and fungi, which is only in this product, um, but all that bacteria is really activated by heat and moisture. So the fact that your soil gets warmer sooner and your all your conditions really make it a better fit for not necessarily better, but a really good fit for Florida because they'll activate those beneficial bacteria a little quicker. That makes a lot of sense, yes, and it helps with the breakdown of the actual manures and supplements that are in here. Yeah. So for someone like myself in Virginia, that is where it's really cold, it takes a longer time for the material to break down. That makes sense. So yeah, because heat activates.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yes. Um, so we've started our own little experiment here at the yard stop with using Espoma. And I don't know if you can hold these up, or I can hold them up.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

And I doubt so just a few weeks ago, um, I did the team training here, and I challenged your team to do a with and a without just with the biotone starter plus so that they could see it for themselves. I mean, I believe in it so much. I absolutely will not plant anything without it. I just will not.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

So this is probably is this the best seller then the biotone starter?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

It's not the best seller, it's the fastest growing product we have in our line. Okay. Um, but this is different in that this is an installation product where this is considered a maintenance product. So this needs to come in contact with the root system. The biotone, okay. The mycorrhizae. So we want to put this in the hole when we plant something, which is what your team did, is they mixed this product into the soil here so that the roots um will be impacted by this mycorrhizae fungi. So that is what they did. So I challenged them to do that, and when I got here today, I'm happy to see that they have they got on board with it. Can you tell us which? Oh yes, okay, immediately. I'm gonna take a guess.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

You think well, I don't I don't remember. Um, but I want to say it's that one. That one's correct. Okay, let me hold it up. So this so for those of you watching, if you can see, this is the the one that does not have organic esboma biotone, and Miss Bonnie's gonna show you the one that does. I don't know if you can tell a difference, guys, but if you're sitting close, you can definitely tell this one is greener. Definitely greener. Yep, it's already getting fuller, getting fuller, and this one is not as green. There's some yellow leaves in there, but you can just tell. You can just tell that something about the one with the biotone has a little bit more, more of a boost. You can tell it's been given a boost. And am I right?

SPEAKER_00 14:02

This is really just um the beginning of it. So it takes about um maybe 23 to 32 days for it to really kick in. Yeah, the other thing I'd point out is this is a lot fuller, whereas this is, you know, as a gardener, I'd be scragglier. It's scraggler, yeah. But this will just continue to fill out, whereas this will be okay, but it'll be somewhat stunted. So in the next couple of weeks, I'd say two, three max, you'll see such a marked difference that everybody here will be like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

And I will say, I I haven't used I haven't used the biotone esproma, but I've used the rose, and I've had the rose one for like probably over a year, but I still use it and it works. Yeah. I so I've I've used I've used a spoma.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Well, I tell everybody it works. You cannot be in business as long as we have been and be as successful as we are if your product doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I agree. It works, it just works. Miss Bonnie, this has been so fun. Do you have anything else to add before we close out?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Um, not really. I would just tell all your listeners really to consider using organic products. It is again, you just will get everything you want out of your gardening experience and have done no harm. Yeah. And who doesn't want to do that? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I mean, yeah, who doesn't want fuller, greener, prettier for their garden? Yeah. Yeah. With no harm. With no harm. Can you tell people, can you tell our listeners um where we can read more about aspoma and where we can find you to buy products and read about your story?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Sure. So we obviously would have a website, aspoma.com. Okay. Um, and that is good for or there are plenty of plenty of information on there. There's where to buy, there's a lot of technical information on there, but a lot of gardening um uh information and how-tos, blogs, videos, just anything you'd want to know about gardening. We really do focus our energies as sales um uh helpers to independent garden centers like your own. You know, that's where our focus is is uh training and making sure that independent garden centers have our products to share with consumers. So we do have a where to buy. You can put your zip code in and um find where a local um garden center is that will have Espoma products. Okay, so espoma.com.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

You also have a Facebook, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Oh yes, we are we are hot on Facebook. We are hot, we are hot on social media, we are on every social media platform that there is. I would tell you, I would venture, and I'm I might be incorrect, but I don't think so. Yeah, that we probably are one of the most active lawn and garden um vendors across the board on any platform. I mean, we're all meta, which of course is Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and whoever else is out there. We're on all of them. Hulu, yeah, uh, all the streaming services. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We're we're hip. Yeah. To be 129 years old, we're really hip. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Also, I forgot to ask you, what is your favorite Espoma product?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Without a doubt, Biotone Starter Plus.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

It's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Oh all right, well, y'all, I recommend you check out Espoma products. Try the Biotone, as it's Miss Bonnie's favorite, so it's definitely what you need for your plants to make them look beautiful. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode. And again, go to www.espoma.com and check them out on their Facebook page for their story, products, questions, history. They've got all of it. So thanks so much for tuning in. We'll see you guys next time.