Retailer Resources Portal
Welcome to the TerraVesco Retailer Training Program for Home & Garden retailers and in-store sales professionals. The program is designed to educate you on our company, and the complete line of TerraThrive home & garden organic soil amendments.
Our web site has been designed to provide you and your customers with all of the information you’ll need to fully understand our company, our products, and all of the latest tips and suggestions for the home gardening enthusiast. We want you to be confident and enthusiastic about recommending our company and our products, and we want you to be fully informed about how our products integrate into traditional gardening activities to improve growing outcomes.
Our products are professionally crafted using the highest quality organic inputs. Our proprietary production process delivers the kind of quality and consistency your customers can come to depend on. TerraThrive contains nutrients and beneficial microbes that rejuvenate the health and vitality of soils. When your customers are looking for an edge in their gardening efforts, and only the best inputs will do, TerraThrive certified organic amendments, mixes, and conditioners are up to the task.
Let’s grow together!
1. Introduction to TerraVesco: Feed the Soil
At TerraVesco, we’ve been working with growers, farmers and gardeners for nearly 30 years to enhance soil health and fertility. Certified organic, environmentally safe, and professionally crafted, our amendments provide nutrients and beneficial microbes plants need while fending off pests and pathogens. The TerraThrive™ home & garden product line now makes these soil amendments, mixes and conditioners available to the home gardening enthusiast.
- Located in Sonoma, California
- Founded: 1992
- Producer of organic worm castings vermicompost and extract
- Primary crop types: Wine grapes, Tree Nuts, Berries, Cannabis, Landscaping, Home gardening
- (check out our California Winery customers in the power point presentation)
What makes TerraVesco different from other worm castings producers?
- Nearly 30 years providing high quality soil amendments to demanding growers and farmers
- Producing worm-based soil amendments is our only business
- Proprietary production process developed, over more than 25 years, delivers a consistent, high quality worm casting vermicompost and extract
- Organic dairy manure is our only input. Quality in, quality out.
- Independent testing validates biological richness and complexity. Efficacy is driven by rich, diverse, abundant beneficial microbes. (BeCrop Report)
- OMRI and CDFA certified organic
- Works hand-in-hand with sources of organic matter, and nutrients/fertilizers to implement the Soil Health Pyramid™ and improve growing outcomes
2. Introduction to TerraThrive™: Organic Soil Amendments, Mixes and Conditioners
- certified organic soil amendments, mixes and conditioners for the home gardening enthusiast
- same high quality products that we use with our commercial growers and farmers
- premium quality at accessible prices
- delivers abundant beneficial microbes to complement nutrients/fertilizers
3. TerraThrive™ All Purpose Soil Blend
Contains 10% worm castings vermicompost
OMRI Listed, CDFA certified organic
Available in 1 cubic foot bag
MSRP: $15.99
Uses:
- All plant types
- Pots and containers
- Mix into existing garden beds
- Use 1 part TerraThrive™ All purpose Soil Blend to 2 parts topsoil
- Implements the Soil Health Pyramid
Learn More:
- Waypoint Analytical analysis of composition and nutrient profiles
- Biome Makers microbial profile
4. TerraThrive™ Seed Starter Mix
Contains 10% worm castings vermicompost
OMRI Listed, CDFA certified organic
Available in 1 cubic foot bag
MSRP: $16.99
Uses:
- All plant types
- Seed and new seedling trays and pots
Learn More:
- Waypoint Analytical analysis of composition and nutrient profiles
- Biome Makers microbial profile
5. TerraThrive™ Worm Castings Extract
OMRI Listed, CDFA certified organic
Available in 32 oz spray bottle, 32 oz reusable bottle with garden hose attachment, 1 gallon jug
MSRP: $8.99, $13.59, $15.99
Uses:
- All plant types
- Foliar spray or soil drench for indoor and outdoor plants
- Seed germination and sowing
- Apply to lawns and gardens once per month during the growing season
Learn More:
- Waypoint Analytical analysis of nutrient profile
- Biome Makers microbial profile
6. Soil Health Pyramid ™: Helping your customers better understand how to develop soil health and fertility
The Soil Health Pyramid™ has been developed to help home gardeners better understand the fundamentals of soil health and fertility. While it makes sense that healthy plants require healthy soil, the questions are—how do I determine the overall soil health and fertility of my soil(s)?, how can I improve my soil to achieve greater soil health?, how will I know when I’ve achieved optimum soil health?
While commercial growers and farmers often use sophisticated soil and plant tissue testing to better understand the health and fertility of their soils, and certainly the avid and ambitious home gardener can do the same, for the vast majority of home gardeners, the Soil Health Pyramid™ will get the job done.
When customers have filled their shopping cart with a variety of plants—herbs, vegetables, tomatoes, roses and annual flowers, they are making a considerable investment in their gardens and container pots.
As a garden center sales professional, you should first complement customers on their great plant selections and then pose the question: “Great plant selection, now tell me a little about the soil your planting those in. Do you have healthy, fertile soils in your garden beds, flower beds, and container pots? How’s your dirt?
Most customers won’t be knowledgeable about the health and condition of their soils. This is where you can educate your customers, improve the overall health of their soils, improve their growing outcomes (and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty), and make more sales.
The base of the pyramid is COMPOSITION. The most important aspect of soil composition is the amount of organic matter in the soil. Generally, most soils lack adequate organic matter (5%.) A simple recommendation is to add compost, mulch, peat moss or manures to the soil to increase organic matter. You currently sell all of these products at your garden center.
The middle of the pyramid is NUTRIENTS or fertilizers. There are a number of organic fertilizer products in your garden center that will fit the bill. An easy solution is to use an all-purpose, slow-release, organic fertilizer or match the picture on the fertilizer bag to the plants that your customer is buying. The nutrients or fertilizer will feed the plants throughout the growing season.
At the top of the pyramid is MICROBIOLOGY. This is the new frontier of modern home gardening. Living soil contains diverse, rich microbial populations of bacteria, fungi and microorganisms that consume and convert nutrients and minerals to highly plant available compounds. They are essential to soil health and a primary contributor to plant health.
All of the TerraThrive products contain worm castings vermicompost, which is an excellent source of abundant beneficial microbes. Our products work hand-in-hand with the nutrients/fertilizers in the soil to improve nutrient digestion and promote better growing outcomes.
While TerraThrive™ Worm Castings Vermicompost and TerraThrive™ Worm Castings Extract are the best sources of abundant beneficial microbes, and should be applied per the application instructions on the bag or jug, all of our soil mixes and blends contain 10 percent worm castings vermicompost. We put abundant beneficial microbes (worm castings vermicompost) in all of our home gardening products.
Now, your customers have the soil amendments and nutrients they need to have great growing outcomes. They have the organic matter, nutrients/fertilizers and abundant beneficial microbes to achieve soil health and fertility. When they have the greenest thumb on the block, they will have you and your garden center to thank for their success. You will have created a highly satisfied, loyal, repeat customer, and you will have increased your sales of soil amendments and fertilizers, and increased your per customer basket spend.
7. TerraVesco Soil Health Exam: For home gardening enthusiasts
The most accurate way to determine the health and fertility of your customer’s soil is with a comprehensive soil test. We have partnered with two industry leading testing companies, Waypoint Analytical and Biome Makers, to develop a straight-forward, easy to understand soil test for the home gardening enthusiast.
The TerraVesco Soil Health Exam™ follows the fundamentals established in the Soil Health Pyramid™ by examining your customers’ soil’s composition, nutrients and microbiology.
The test includes an analysis of the soil’s pH, soil texture, CEC and organic matter content, as well as a complete picture of both the soil’s nutrient and microbial profiles.
The scientists and agronomists at both Waypoint Analytical and Biome Makers have developed benchmarks for defining soil health so that soil test results can be measured and compared. This will enable gardening enthusiasts to better understand the deficiencies in their soils and to use products at your garden center to remedy their deficiencies and improve their growing outcomes.
The TerraVesco Soil Health Exam can be ordered directly from the e-commerce shop on our web site at www.terravesco.com
8. Soil Learning Center: an informational resource for the home gardening enthusiast
Today’s home gardeners want to be knowledgeable, and informed about everything and anything that has to do with becoming an accomplished gardener.
The Soil Learning Center can be found here >>
The Soil Learning Center demonstrates our commitment to increasing our collective understanding and knowledge about the soil. It provides a place where home gardeners can read academic research and published articles about soil and plant health, and the results of our academic and commercial field trials. Or they can browse our video library and learn more about organic remedies for their gardens and landscapes.
Starting in January of 2020, we will be providing monthly instructional gardening videos that will focus on fundamental gardening practices across the growing cycle.
From planning a garden and selecting the right seeds and plants, to preparing the soil, feeding the plants with nutrients, and proper watering and pruning, the instructional gardening series will be their to help and support your gardening customer every step of the way.
9. TerraVesco Quick Look Fact Sheet
Company:
- located in Sonoma, CA
- working with commercial growers and farmers for nearly 30 years
- certified-organic soil amendments to promote soil health and fertility
Soil Health Pyramid:
- Composition, Nutrients and Microbiology
- Composition: increase organic matter with compost, mulch, peat and manures
- Nutrients: slow release organic fertilizer matching the plantings
- Microbiology: adding abundant source of beneficial microbes with TerraThrive soil amendments, mixes and conditioners
TerraThrive™:
- same products used by commercial growers and farmers
- certified organic (OMRI and CDFA)
- high quality at accessible prices
- abundant source of beneficial microbes to complete the Soil Health Pyramid
- the missing ingredient for most home gardeners looking to maximize their growing outcomes
Benefits:
- improved soil structure and microbial health
- greater transplant success
- more resilient plants
- more vigorous stems and leaves
- larger root mass
- higher yields and better quality fruits, vegetables, herbs and blooms
10. FAQs
How do worm castings improve the quality of garden soils?
As worms consume organic matter in the soil, their digestive tracts grind the food concentrating nutrients an`d introducing abundant beneficial microbes into the soil. The concentrated nutrients are in a form easily taken up by plants, and the microbes consume nutrients and similarly produce more plant accessible compounds. Worm castings naturally contribute to both Nutrients and Microbiology in the Soil Health Pyramid™.
What makes TerraThrive ™ Worm Castings Vermicompost different and better than other worm castings products in the marketplace?
Several things:
-
- Not all worm castings are alike. The overall quality of the worm castings is impacted by the food source (manure, food waste, green waste, paper) consumed by the worms, and the production process utilized to produce the castings. TerraVesco uses only organic dairy manure as the food source, and our proprietary production process, developed over 25 years, produces a high quality, consistent soil amendment that meets the standards of the most demanding growers and farmers.
- Our products are OMRI Listed and CDFA certified organic
- No weed seeds and inert materials
- Vermicompost adds organic matter to the soil improving soil structure and porosity
- Worm-based soil amendments are our only business
Many soil blend products list worm castings as an ingredient. What percentage of worm castings in a blend is ideal to maximize growing outcomes?
While many soil blend products list worm castings as an active ingredient, often times the percentages are very low due to the relatively high cost of worm castings compared to other inputs. And because the soil blender often times did not produce the worm castings themselves, the relative quality of the castings is difficult to access.
At TerraVesco, our commercial field trials and scientific research indicate that the right percentage of worm castings in a soil blend is 10%. Therefore, when we recommend incorporating our Worm Castings Vermicompost into soil mixes, or mixing into your flower beds, gardens, pots and containers, we recommend mixing in 10%. In addition, all of our soil blends and mixes contain a 10% allocation to worm castings vermicompost.
Are the TerraThrive products easy to use?
Yes. All of our products have clear application instructions on the packaging. In addition, the 6 qt and 10 qt bags of TerraThrive™ Worm Castings Vermicompost include a 4 oz scoop for ease of use, and the 32 oz TerraThrive™ Worm Castings Extract spray bottle comes with a four-ratchet sprayer for foliar misting or streaming the extract directly around the base of plants.
The TerraThrive All Purpose Soil Blend™ is designed to implement the Soil Health Pyramid and can be used as a stand-alone soil media for pots and containers. It can also be mixed with standard top soil to improve the soil health and fertility of flower beds and vegetable gardens.
The TerraThrive Seed Starter Mix™ is a stand-alone soil media to be used in seed trays and planting pots to promote seed germination and early root development.
If your customers just follow the fundamentals of soil health in the Soil Health Pyramid™, this easy three-step process of mixing in organic matter (compost, mulch, peat moss, manures), adding an organic slow-release fertilizer/nutrients, and incorporating TerraThrive™ for abundant beneficial microbes, then they will have created the ideal soil conditions for their plants to thrive.
My gardening customers want to learn as much as they can about how to be better gardeners and improve their growing outcomes. How can TerraVesco help educate my customers?
TerraVesco is committed to helping retailers educate their customers. Our web site includes the Soil Learning Center — a repository of information on soil health, regenerative farming, plant nutrients and fertilizer, home gardening, and academic and commercial research and field trials. The Center also includes a long list of research articles, publications, books and videos that may be of interest to gardening enthusiasts.
In 2021, we will begin providing gardening instructional videos covering a variety of gardening techniques and practices utilized across the growing season.