New Product!

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by l00b, Jun 15, 2010.

  1. Hey GC, how's everyone doin today.

    Well first let me introduce myself. My name is Curt Neumann, I reside in the lovely nation of Canada. I have been a cannabis lover since I can remember. Parents loved the herb and of course passed that trait to myself.

    Now, currently, I am taking horticulture courses and growing tomatoes :rolleyes: for myself.

    Now to business...

    I have created a new organic soil product straight from the lovely lands of Alberta itself. What it is, is purely a soil medium to provide a large amount of pure organic nutrients. The difference between my product and another bag of soil is I am packaging in a 15 L resealable pail. I have talked to some very knowledgeable people in the industry around my hometown and they all have LOVED it (no jokes). I am constantly looking to improve the product and am open to ANY feedback anyone could provide.

    My whole idea of the product was to provide a high quality soil with a container to transfer into to stress the plants less by keeping the medium change to a minimum.

    Anyhow enough ranting for now...
    Let me know your thoughts and questions!

    And if you don't mind, have a look at my website and see what you think. I have a couple growers that are testing the soil and no complaints so far. I'm hoping to provide a grow journal of my own and show the great results that I am acquiring myself.

    Thanks GC. Can't wait to get your comments.

    -l00b (Curt Neumann)
    Curtis@earthsbestsoil.com
    Earth's Best Soil > Home
     
  2. $29.95 for a half gallon of humus plus freight?
     
  3. Curt

    Just for a basis of comparison, I purchase Alaska Humus (sold under the retail name 'Denali Gold') for $24.00 per 1 c.f. from the Soil Food Web folks in Corvallis, Oregon. Alaska Humus is one of the preferred humus/compost products by the professionals involved in aerated compost teas. About the only thing better is homegrown earthworm castings assuming that the worm bins were supplied with a proper diet that includes soft rock phosphate, oyster shell powder, organic produce, kelp meal and light (very light) applications of fulvic acids. Hard to accomplish that in a commercial EWC operation.

    I'm arranging to purchase 2,300 lbs. of Alaska Humus (loose, in a tote) for $400.00 for a potting soil mix that I've been working on for several months. That price is the delivered price into Longview, Washington. If I wanted to pick this up at the Port of Tacoma the price would drop $100.00 and bagging charges would run $.75 - $1.00 per cubic foot. About the same if it were packed in a 1.5 c.f. configuration.

    You've got some pretty stiff competition on several levels. Not the least of which is the cost paradigm.

    For what your company has penciled in as a price point, this product would have to be far, far superior than anything else available. Have you checked out the competition? Those prices may fly in the indoor garden/grow store industry but you'd be hard-pressed to make any kind of a case for a volume user like an organic farmer.

    Just a thought. Best wishes on your endeavor.

    LD
     
  4. From the bean counter in me, there's (rounded) .134 cubic foot in a gallon. 15 liters equals ~4 gallons or .54 cubic foot. $29.95 for .54 cubic foot would equate to over $62 for a cubic foot of product.
     
  5. One could air-freight a bag of Alaska Humus for far less than that.

    Even if it were shipped 'Priority Air' and trust me - I speak from personal experience from several months back when there was a disruption in the supply chain to Soil Food Web and I/we were up against the wall with a huge application on an organic vineyard using 2 ea. 500 gallon brewers. Not the best time to go shopping for a replacement product, KWIM?

    Curt

    Would you like it tested? Tad at Simple-Tea Compost Tea Brewers uses a Meiji Microscope (list price is $8,500.00) with a Nikon system to transfer the images onto a 27" HDTV screen. He supplies a complete video showing the various microbes in a tea/soil sample. Having your product verified as to its value might be helpful in marketing.

    Tim Wilson (microbeorganics.com) is in British Columbia and is one of the experts in this area - he could also do a field test for you if you're interested.

    Again, best wishes on your endeavor.

    LD
     
  6. Thanks for the fast replies guys.
    As for prices it is like you said sketched in. Prices will be changing as we see fit.

    For our online customers we are most likely, now don't quote me on this, looking at a price point of 19.95/pail. Price points will be worked out just like everything so ordering larger amounts will give you a better discount. And sorry just to clarify, that is the price of the soil itself.

    For the humus I still have to run a large amount of tests to get the exact properties of it, but the good news is they are in progress. '

    LD, thank you for some great feed back and prices for me to compare to.
    The history behind this product is amazing. A elder family of farmers farmed on the land for the last 150 yrs organically, which helped our nutrient count be quite high. We believe we have a very valuable product we just need the opportunity to get some people to prove to the others.

    Another question for the community,
    What specific nutrient contents are you looking for in a soil? Just so I know which numbers to post for individuals to refer too.

    Thanks again everyone,
     
  7. Bump back up top for the day.

    Still looking for any feedback. Any first impressions or thoughts I should be aware of.

    Or how about this question. What could I offer to promote you (growers) to purchase EBS.
    What would convince you to try out my soil?
     
  8. l00b

    An analysis of the microbe colony levels would be a starting place for many folks buying a soil with this pricing structure. It would have to have extremely high levels of aerobic fungi - getting bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, etc. into any soil is pretty easy.

    The so-called N-P-K in any soil/humus/EWC is hardly measurable. That's one of the major screeds by the chemical crowd. I should note that since the untimely execution of Chemical Al in Iraq, they've been a testy bunch but such is life.

    High-fungal composts are available at even higher prices than your product so there is definitely a market. The owner of one compost tea brewing manufacturer posted the results on using a composted poultry manure product that had fungi levels that 'were off the chart' to use his verbiage. The manure came from an organic poultry operation in the Bay Area in California - the price was/is $59.99 per lb.

    The author of 'Teaming With Microbes' moderates an aerated compost tea discussion group at Yahoo.com - there you'll find soil scientists from around the world exchanging information about maximizing the microbes in soils.

    If your stuff stands up to peer review it would be my opinion that you could carve out a niche market with the hardcore soil biologists.

    Just a thought....................

    LD
     
  9. Your website describes the product as a pure humus. When I construct my grow medium it has more than one component. As an outdoor grower using your product would be cost prohibitive for me using it in my 25-gallon Smart Pots, even as a 25% component.

    I'd think (indoor?) growers using smaller containers would be your primary market objective. As to promotion, assuming quality is comparable with your competition, price is always king.
     
  10. LD,

    I owe you a ton, The information you left with me is priceless. All in all, I truly appreciate all feedback. I could not create the perfect product with just my knowledge. Today I have tests booked. Depending on the duration of the tests, I should be able to post a good analysis of microbe activity. I will also do the N/P/K values as well because as far as I know, the average grower (Myself included) hears about those values before the microbe count.

    I will have to do some research and see what the competitive prices are like after I get the results back and price my product accordingly.

    madodah

    I see where you are coming from. I should have it listed that what I am trying to accomplish is provide a good nutrient medium for indoor container gardening. I know for just chatting with people in the industry that everyone has their own 'special' mix so I am trying to provide all the nutrients and a good planting medium to start with.

    For myself I have a season of Tomatoes :)rolleyes:) growing have approx 5 plants each with different mixtures of humus and soil to see where the balance is.

    This is just the beginning but I have a large amount of confidence that this product will go great places just by looking at my personal results.


    Last question I have for everyone... For a while ;)

    What is your opinion on the product name. My idea behind it was to emphasize organics and being natural untouched soil, but still marketing towards the 'pot' market using innuendo's and play on words.

    Now should I stick with this or would you be more adapt to purchase it if the product name was something like EG. Kush 420 Soil. ( Something more in your face and direct marketing towards ganja).

    Ive thought about both and have pro's/con's of both.

    Lets just hear some of your thoughts.

    Talk to everyone soon!
     
  11. From a market perspective, I'd pursue the cannabis industry under one program and conventional/decorative agriculture as a separate program. Both are susceptible to advertising claims but for different purposes and with different demographics.

    Your biggest market potential in cannabis growing actually isn't we organic terrorists (love that title) but the impressionable personal grower seeking instant gratification through advertising claims.

    Have you looked into packaging for some of the better known names in organics? A single product that's basically a grow medium component seems like a difficult path to any volume without significant capitalization for advertising purposes.
     
  12. madodah,

    You hit it right on the nose. The market we are looking into is the personal home grown market. At the moment I have been contacting the Canadian Medical Marijuana government program and hoping to look into a contract with them as a endorsed medium provider.

    At this point we are in the very basics of discussing the details and it could be more of a all entailed purchased, meaning, they(the medical growers) purchase a kit which includes soil(When i say soil, it will be a mixture of soil,humus,pete moss), nutrients & Balances to get the perfect growing medium. It would also have the option of buying lighting set-up as well.

    I have been in contact with advanced nutrients to supply the nutrients and balancing portion of the kit and am now looking into a company to source the lighting. (Few are in mind, SunBlaster being one, also located in Canada.)

    That little bit is something, we have been thinking about but not sure how it would float.

    On the Marketing topic, I have a tight budget for marketing, as does any new company, and am aiming more towards a Referral Affiliate Program where our Button link is placed on a reputable seed bank ( our main idea atm). When some clicks the link, they get a coupon code that they can enter at our website for a discount. Our client who has our link will be payed not by click but a direct sale when a consumer purchases our product by linking to our site from the seed banks.

    Hopefully that wall of text makes sense.

    But those are our angles at the moment. I also have a local seed wholesaler that I may also link up with to sell the soil/mix with the seeds as complimenting products.

    My fingers are a bit sore haha. But let me know what you think of those ideas.

    Thanks again Madodah
     
  13. Advanced Nutrients. Shudder, king of the hydro hucksters.

    Sorry, let my emotion enter into a business decision, which is a no-no.
     
  14. Curt

    Before real life got in the way, a couple of associates and I were seriously considering getting into the organic fertilizer business in Oregon. We had the sources lined up on neem coir, neem leaves, neem bark, pure organic Azadactrin, organic dairy manure (composted), organic poultry manure (composted), fish bone meal hydrolysate, etc, etc, etc. It didn't pan out.

    I came up with the name 'Know Knutes' but it wasn't well received by the other members. I thought it had 'da hook' as they say in the marketing world.

    LD
     
  15. LD, I greatly admire your knowledge, expertise and look forward to your posts, but suggest you consider delegating product branding to the marketing types.
     
  16. LOL - that was the general consensus with my partners in this project.

    Weird how 'eternal' some paradigms are, eh? LOL

    Peace

    LD
     

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