06.28.07
Decades before Euell Gibbons made the term "organic gardening" popular with his book Stalking the Wild Asparagus, H.G. Sanders was selling his Espoma Organic fertilizer in the northeastern United States. Production of this now immensely popular brand began in 1929, with natural ingredients manually blended and bagged with shovels, wheelbarrows and scales. Sanders initially sold his product by taking it to markets in New York, Philadelphia and Washington from his manufacturing location in Millville, NJ.
H.G. created the company's number one selling product, Holly-tone, in the late 1940s (Millville is called the Holly City). The product was specifically blended to satisfy the needs of acid-loving plants including hollies, rhododendrons, azaleas, and evergreens. Today, Espoma products are considered by professional and amateur gardeners alike to be the top plant food for all acid-loving plants.
The Millville operation has expanded more than a dozen times through the years to become a modern manufacturing facility. And H.G. Sanders' great-grandson, Jeremy Brunner, represents the fourth family generation to enter the company's management.
Brunner, the vice president, describes Espoma as a business devoted to natural and environmentally friendly organic gardening products. Now, 75 plus years after introducing its original product, Espoma has unveiled a family of new natural control products. "We have had natural pesticides in the back of our minds for quite some time," Brunner says, "but everything we tried just didn't come up to our standards. We wanted an environmentally friendly, natural product that would work as well or better than current conventional chemical products."
When a supplier came to Brunner with formulas that would really work, the immediate need for packaging became apparent. The new products were liquids, but until then Espoma had produced only dry products, which are shipped in a variety of bag sizes.
"I was in the car wash one day and they had a lot of different products on the office shelf," Brunner recalls. "A 'ready-to-use' (RTU) trigger spray bottle of Black Magic caught my eye so I bought it, imagining it with flowers and gardens on it."
From there, the path led to a contract packaging show in Chicago, where several booths had shrink wrapped samples of similar spray bottle products, including Seal-It Inc., a division of Printpack Inc. based in Farmingdale, NY, USA. Discussions with Seal-It made Brunner realize that this was a company that could manufacture the type of shrink sleeve label that would give him the vibrant colors he wanted. "This really wasn't an easy task," Brunner says. "We had a non-symmetrical shape to deal with and very tight margins for error in application, because distortion starts as the bottle size changes." However, with a lot of trial and error and testing, including design changes and input from both Seal-It and the Espoma ad agency, Eggz Inc. of Collingswood, NJ, they finally came up with a workable design.
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Espoma found MavPac, of Atlanta, GA, USA, a contract packaging firm that specializes in shrink wrap, among other processes. They solved the problem of applying the shrink sleeve label to the unusal RTU bottle shape.
This year Espoma has unveiled three new products in off-centered RTU 24-ounce trigger spray bottles: Earth-tone 3-in-1 Disease Control, Insect Control, and a 4-in-1 formula for Weed Control. Five additional SKUs are in the 2008 lineup, which is now being marketed at national shows. Also on tap is a new RTU Insecticide Soap product as well as a 16 ounce bottle of concentrate for all four RTUs.
Seal-It has manufactured not only the shrink wrap labels for the three products now on the market but also made the wraps for the five new SKUs so that display islands of the full 2008 product line can be presented at trade shows this year.
"Espoma wanted a non-industrial look and they wanted to stay away from 'me-too' packaging," says David Lowe, Seal-It's general manager. "The PETG (polyester terephthalate modified with glycol) Seal-It label works extremely well for this application."
"Every retailer already has a full lineup of pesticides," Brunner says, "but even so we are already well on line to meeting all our goals. We are going to add an insecticide soap to the line for 2008 and a 16-ounce bottle of concentrate for each of the four spray bottles. This is in keeping with our desire to minimize packaging as well as to lower the cost-to-use for our consumers."
With 78 years of history in the business, Espoma is still strongest in the Northeast states where the company started out. According to Brunner, "We now have good distribution in the eastern half of the US, from Texas to Illinois eastward." The company's goal, he adds, is to be "the leading provider of natural gardening solutions to the US lawn and garden market."
Pressure sensitive labels being sent on packages to US troops in Iraq might someday help solve a four-year-old riddle: Where is Sgt. Matt Maupin of Batavia, OH? For three years, Matt was the the only soldier officially listed as "missing/captured". He was a 20 year old private first class in the US Army Reserve when a fuel truck convoy his unit was guarding was ambushed on April 9, 2004, near the Baghdad airport.
Five drivers were killed in the attack, and Matt was captured along with Sgt. Elmer Krause and Thomas Hamill, a civilian contractor. Sgt. Krause was found slain a week later and Hamill escapted from his captors on May 2 of that year and was recovered by US forces near Tikrit, some 80 miles away.
Matt's parents are certain that their son will come home someday. His dad, Keith Maupin, keeps Matt's shiny red Mustang, which Matt bought just before being deployed to Iraq, in his garage. His mom, Carolyn, is saving Matt's grades from his first semester at college (which Matt hasn't seen) and says, "Matt made the Dean's List, 4 A's and a B."
The pressure sensitive labels, donated by General-Data Company of nearby Cincinnati, go onto every box shipped out of the country to the Armed Forces from the Yellow Ribbon Support Center in Batavia. The Support Center, founded by Matt's mom before her son was captured, is a 501c3 nonprofit charitable foundation, and, says Keith, "It's another way to not let Matt be forgotten."
Part of the Support Center's services (100 percent of all donations go to support the troops) is offering a flat rate for shipping a box. Contributions have ranged from 50 cents to $30,000, which the center used to buy 90 laptop computers for soldiers in Iraq. Regional fundraisers have helped to send care packages to the soldiers overseas. These have ranged from high school class projects to radio station promotions to concerts. The Ohio Chapter of Rolling Thunder, a charitable organization dedicated to publicizing POW/MIA issues, has set up a Matt Maupin scholarship fund.
The US Army even ran a television ad on Iraqi TV, but it produced no new leads. Its tag line was "Help heal the pain of these separated families", and included photos of Matt as well as his mom and dad.
While most citizens never get to personally see the leader of their country, Keith and Carolyn Maupin have had eight meetings with President George W. Bush. Keith, who has not shaved his beard since Matt was reported missing in 2003, was asked by the president when he was going to shave. He answered, "When my son comes home." Meeting with the top leaders in the country is another way the Maupins try to keep Matt in the news.
Matt has been promoted twice since going to Iraq and is now a US Army staff sergeant. For more information about Matt Maupin or the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, go to www.yellowribbonsupportcenter.com. And, if you happen to drive out Route 32 in southwest Ohio and start seeing yellow ribbons on every parking meter in town, you'll know you're in Batavia, Ohio, Matt's hometown.
The Millville operation has expanded more than a dozen times through the years to become a modern manufacturing facility. And H.G. Sanders' great-grandson, Jeremy Brunner, represents the fourth family generation to enter the company's management.
Brunner, the vice president, describes Espoma as a business devoted to natural and environmentally friendly organic gardening products. Now, 75 plus years after introducing its original product, Espoma has unveiled a family of new natural control products. "We have had natural pesticides in the back of our minds for quite some time," Brunner says, "but everything we tried just didn't come up to our standards. We wanted an environmentally friendly, natural product that would work as well or better than current conventional chemical products."
When a supplier came to Brunner with formulas that would really work, the immediate need for packaging became apparent. The new products were liquids, but until then Espoma had produced only dry products, which are shipped in a variety of bag sizes.
"I was in the car wash one day and they had a lot of different products on the office shelf," Brunner recalls. "A 'ready-to-use' (RTU) trigger spray bottle of Black Magic caught my eye so I bought it, imagining it with flowers and gardens on it."
From there, the path led to a contract packaging show in Chicago, where several booths had shrink wrapped samples of similar spray bottle products, including Seal-It Inc., a division of Printpack Inc. based in Farmingdale, NY, USA. Discussions with Seal-It made Brunner realize that this was a company that could manufacture the type of shrink sleeve label that would give him the vibrant colors he wanted. "This really wasn't an easy task," Brunner says. "We had a non-symmetrical shape to deal with and very tight margins for error in application, because distortion starts as the bottle size changes." However, with a lot of trial and error and testing, including design changes and input from both Seal-It and the Espoma ad agency, Eggz Inc. of Collingswood, NJ, they finally came up with a workable design.
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Espoma found MavPac, of Atlanta, GA, USA, a contract packaging firm that specializes in shrink wrap, among other processes. They solved the problem of applying the shrink sleeve label to the unusal RTU bottle shape.
This year Espoma has unveiled three new products in off-centered RTU 24-ounce trigger spray bottles: Earth-tone 3-in-1 Disease Control, Insect Control, and a 4-in-1 formula for Weed Control. Five additional SKUs are in the 2008 lineup, which is now being marketed at national shows. Also on tap is a new RTU Insecticide Soap product as well as a 16 ounce bottle of concentrate for all four RTUs.
Seal-It has manufactured not only the shrink wrap labels for the three products now on the market but also made the wraps for the five new SKUs so that display islands of the full 2008 product line can be presented at trade shows this year.
"Espoma wanted a non-industrial look and they wanted to stay away from 'me-too' packaging," says David Lowe, Seal-It's general manager. "The PETG (polyester terephthalate modified with glycol) Seal-It label works extremely well for this application."
"Every retailer already has a full lineup of pesticides," Brunner says, "but even so we are already well on line to meeting all our goals. We are going to add an insecticide soap to the line for 2008 and a 16-ounce bottle of concentrate for each of the four spray bottles. This is in keeping with our desire to minimize packaging as well as to lower the cost-to-use for our consumers."
With 78 years of history in the business, Espoma is still strongest in the Northeast states where the company started out. According to Brunner, "We now have good distribution in the eastern half of the US, from Texas to Illinois eastward." The company's goal, he adds, is to be "the leading provider of natural gardening solutions to the US lawn and garden market."
A label for Matt Maupin
Pressure sensitive labels being sent on packages to US troops in Iraq might someday help solve a four-year-old riddle: Where is Sgt. Matt Maupin of Batavia, OH? For three years, Matt was the the only soldier officially listed as "missing/captured". He was a 20 year old private first class in the US Army Reserve when a fuel truck convoy his unit was guarding was ambushed on April 9, 2004, near the Baghdad airport.
Five drivers were killed in the attack, and Matt was captured along with Sgt. Elmer Krause and Thomas Hamill, a civilian contractor. Sgt. Krause was found slain a week later and Hamill escapted from his captors on May 2 of that year and was recovered by US forces near Tikrit, some 80 miles away.
Matt's parents are certain that their son will come home someday. His dad, Keith Maupin, keeps Matt's shiny red Mustang, which Matt bought just before being deployed to Iraq, in his garage. His mom, Carolyn, is saving Matt's grades from his first semester at college (which Matt hasn't seen) and says, "Matt made the Dean's List, 4 A's and a B."
Part of the Support Center's services (100 percent of all donations go to support the troops) is offering a flat rate for shipping a box. Contributions have ranged from 50 cents to $30,000, which the center used to buy 90 laptop computers for soldiers in Iraq. Regional fundraisers have helped to send care packages to the soldiers overseas. These have ranged from high school class projects to radio station promotions to concerts. The Ohio Chapter of Rolling Thunder, a charitable organization dedicated to publicizing POW/MIA issues, has set up a Matt Maupin scholarship fund.
The US Army even ran a television ad on Iraqi TV, but it produced no new leads. Its tag line was "Help heal the pain of these separated families", and included photos of Matt as well as his mom and dad.
While most citizens never get to personally see the leader of their country, Keith and Carolyn Maupin have had eight meetings with President George W. Bush. Keith, who has not shaved his beard since Matt was reported missing in 2003, was asked by the president when he was going to shave. He answered, "When my son comes home." Meeting with the top leaders in the country is another way the Maupins try to keep Matt in the news.
Matt has been promoted twice since going to Iraq and is now a US Army staff sergeant. For more information about Matt Maupin or the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, go to www.yellowribbonsupportcenter.com. And, if you happen to drive out Route 32 in southwest Ohio and start seeing yellow ribbons on every parking meter in town, you'll know you're in Batavia, Ohio, Matt's hometown.