Premium Wood and Garden Products - 345 E. Main Street - Jackson, Ohio 45640 - Phone 740.286.1322 - Fax 740.286.7181

 

Reprint from  Magazine

[This article somewhat explains the history of the product. Since September of 2001 Nick Summers, the CEO of NEA, Inc. for 8 years, purchased the rights to manufacture and distribute the product. The new name for the company is Premium Wood and Garden Products. The new company also offers other high quality products.]
 
JACKSON,Ohio-A soil amendment made from steam-sterilized horse manure is drawing praise from landscapers.
Known as Nea's Organic Compost or Nea's Posy Power (depending on the packaging), the manure first decomposes outdoors for 30 days. Weed seeds are then eliminated by steam sterilization. Additives include brewer's grain, gypsum, peat moss and lime.

The 80-day composting process is monitored by state-of-the-art computerized controls, according to Nea Henry, who is the president of the southeastern Ohio firm.
"We came up with our own entire process, and it worked," she recalls. "The procedures are very exact."

• It rebuilds worn out soil;
• acts as a fertilizer;
• holds moisture during drought conditions;
• adds micro-organisms;
• breaks down clay soil;
• Adds organic humus and
builds up sandy soil

At Ohio University in Athens, it was used to rebuild the athletic fields and golf greens. The product also was applied as a topdressing for new and established lawns and flower beds, plus it was used as a mulch around shrubs in the spring.
"We would highly recommend Nea's Organic Compost to anyone in this field," says Daniel H. Stright, OU's director of grounds maintenance.
Nea's "improves the structure of the soil remarkably and allows for better water-holding capacity and better air penetration in the clay soils we have in this area," he notes.

"This organic compost has the added value of being weed-free, and it is much cheaper than oak bark mulch," says Stright. He added that the product is neutral as opposed to the bark's acid qualities.
"We have had many favorable comments on the fields, lawns, and flower beds where the material has been added," Stright notes.

"Another great feature is the moisture-holding capacity," says Dave Junka, curator of the Franklin Park Conservatory and Garden Center in Columbus. "The same plants in beds without the compost require much more frequent waterings," he reports.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources uses the mixture for its wildflower program and for reclaiming old strip mines. The AmeriFlora exhibit in Columbus added Nea's to its blended soils.
Pricing varies according to marketplace. (A top- dressing spreader customer-designed for the product sells for $299.) Henry will deliver via dump-truck and semi-load within 400 miles. Otherwise its shipped in 30-pound bags.
Nea's compost was born in the mushroom industry.

When she used the product on her father's crop, the yield was 6 lbs./sq. ft. when the national average for mushroom growing was just 1.79 lbs./sq. ft. Campbell's Soup was so impressed that it bought the company, but Henry kept the "super mix" patent.

It's hard to think of horse manure as high tech, but the conversion process also reduces the smell. The air used during processing is filtered just like in hospitals. The humidity, barometric pressure and temperature is continuously controlled.