Thursday, December 16, 2010

Review of Master Nursery Bumper Crop - worse than poop


I hate that my first review of a product has to be negative. In fact, I'd been holding out on posting this because I wanted to first have a lab test the product. But I've gotten the results, and I have to say, Master Nursery brand's Bumper Crop Soil Builder is just not a product I will ever use again.

Here's the full review...

Where do I begin this epic saga of contaminated bagged soil and out of pocket soil testing costs?

I've been buying Master Nursery products for a while. Occasionally I'd noticed the odd piece of plastic pot mixed in with the bag, but I never questioned the overall quality of the product. I did notice there was quite a lot of not-fully-decomposed wood particles, but again, I didn't sweat it. At least not until now.

In October, I was refreshing my vegetable beds. I had some problems with root knot nematodes this past summer (you may recall this topic in a previous post). One of the common recommendations to prevent nematodes is to mix in more organic matter. My compost bin is pretty small so I didn't have enough homemade stuff to work into all my veggie beds. No biggie, I just decided to also buy some planting mix from my regular nursery.

Well I bought 5 giant bags of Master Nursery Bumper Crop and brought it home. I started mixing in the stuff when I began noticing lots of junk in my veggie beds. Junk like little bits of cloth, some wire, plastic film, hard plastic, chunks of painted wood, etc. Since I live in an urban area, I first assumed that this trash was stuff already in my yard that I was digging up, but there was just so much more trash than I was used to seeing. After I was almost done with my amending, I started to get a little suspicious and decided to pour out some of the planting mix into an empty wheelbarrow. I was HORRIFIED to find that the trash was actually coming from the bagged soil that I had purchased!!! This was NOT the forest humus that was promised on the label! Or if it was forest humus, it was from a forest growing on a landfill/e-waste facility.

I am a freak about keeping my vegetable garden organic and clean. I do not need to be adding garbage and paying for the privilege. Well, let's just say I was not going to let this one slide. I called the Master Nursery company several times. To their credit, they were very nice about the incident on the phone. They said the product is processed at the Kellogg plant, and they were going to contact them, and get to the bottom of this situation. Then they gave me five more bags of the same product to replace the tainted batch I got. While I appreciated the gesture, that didn't really help the fact that I'd already mixed four bags of the garbage humus into my vegetable plots. There is no way to undo that!

I had saved a couple samples of the last bag of garbage humus in my wheelbarrow, as well as picked out some of the choicer bits of trash from the bag (fabric, electrical wire, plastic, plastic, more plastic, painted wood chips, etc.). I gave a sample of the soil and the sample of the trash to the Master Nursery people to help them figure out what happened, and they promised they would test the sample to make sure there was no really toxic contaminant and send me the results. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt because they were being very nice. Well, for a while I heard nothing, so I pestered them. Then finally, they contacted me to say they never tested the soil and weren't going to. The people at Kellogg said that I hadn't saved enough of a sample. BULLSHIT. I saved exactly as much as I knew was required by the soil lab I normally use.

Well what I hadn't told them up to that point was that I had actually taken an extra sample of their tainted product and saved it. I had held onto it as collateral, but hadn't sent it to a lab yet because I was waiting for Kellogg/Master Nursery's results. So I paid for a lab test myself. It's not cheap, you know. I mean, I use a lab where the actual testing is really affordable, but it's in Massachusetts and shipping is not cheap. (By the way, I heart the University of Massachusetts Amherst soil testing lab big time.)

The images above and below are the results from this soil testing. In the end, there wasn't a ton of heavy metals, but there was a little bit of lead and chromium which is not cool. This testing does not include screening for contaminants like pesticides and hydrocarbons, so I don't know if those were present. But the craziest thing I learned from the soil test was that this "soil builder" has literally no Nitrogen at all. I mean not one iota of the most important nutrient for plants! And, on top of that, the pH of the soil builder is too high for most vegetables to grow well. So regardless of the trash, the product itself is poor quality and not at all good for your soil.

This test result totally corroborated what was already going on in my vegetable beds where I had used the product. My seedlings growing in the beds where this stuff was used are totally anemic compared to the vegetables planted at the same time in garden soil I amended with my own little bit of homemade compost I had.

This is why Master Nursery Bumper Crop is worse than poop. If I had bought bags of steer manure instead of this fancy mix, I would have gotten less trash, and more nutrients for sure. So sorry Master Nursery, you get the worst rating I can give: F-.


Epilogue: Though this particular tale involved only the Bumper Crop product, I've actually sworn off all Master Nursery and Kellogg products. From now on, I'm only going to amend my veggie plots with aged hay and organic fertilizer. As for potting mixes, I've switched to Fox Farm. Apparently, it is the soil of choice for weed farmers. And that's a recommendation I'm going to heed.

21 comments:

  1. Have you ever thought about composting with worms? You don't need a lot of space just rubbermaid bins. You can compost indoors or outdoors and it's completely controlled and there's no turning the compost since the worms do all of the work. Of course, I'm a little biased about composting with worms. I love my worms and I've been composting indoors. My worms produce rich compost every 4 to 5 months. Now I just need a garden!

    Yoonjo

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  2. Ooh! That's really quick compost! I'd been doing the regular cold compost bin because I have too much yard waste. I've been thinking of also keeping an additional bin for worms outside. (Especially since I've been reading more about how worm castings as fertilizer help repel bad bugs from plants.) I know Erin's been thinking of starting a worm bin ever since she went to that composting workshop. She's looking into stacking canister bins. But I'll probably be cheap and just convert a Rubbermaid bin. What kind of bin do you have?

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  3. I just use two Rubbermaid bins with lids, size 33.9 X 15.9 X 8.7 inches and drilled 1/4 size holes in the bottom of the bins and 1/16th inch holes along the sides and lids.I found a website that shows you how to make your own bins. I'll look for the site and pass it along to you. It cost me about $15 to make the bins!! I've been raising worms for 2 1/2 years now. I started with approximately 60 to 100 worms that I purchased locally and bred them. So now I have approximately 2000 worms give or take. If you and Erin do decide to start worm bins, let me know if you need any tips. I've gone through the gamut of problems that can occur with bins including a fungus gnat infestation!

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  4. Here's the website that I used to make my bins: http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/easywormbin.htm

    I've also heard that the castings are great for repelling bad bugs and it's also great for dissolving in your water to water your plants (worm tea!). Happy gardening guys! I wish I was back in Cali gardening year round, too!

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  5. That's a great website, thanks! I should build one for sure. It would be so nice to have the bin going when spring rolls around. I'm definitely worried about infestations. It's a main reason I want to keep the worms outside. I've heard horror stories about ants getting in the bins too. I'll definitely hit you up for tips, and i bet Erin will too. Thanks again Yoonjo! (Oh, and 2000 worms? Holy cow!)

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  6. Part of the reason I kept my worms indoors was to control any infestations. The worms that I bought were raised outdoors and had all sorts of critters mixed in. Most of the critters were harmless to the worms and after about 6 months most died. After my first casting harvest I actually washed all of my worms! Yeah, a little obsessive but it's kept out the critters since then. If you're worried about ants and centipedes getting into your bins, you may want to keep them indoors.
    2000, I know. Wasn't actually expecting that to happen. I originally separated the worms because someone I knew wanted to raise worms too but then bailed on me. I suppose I could've put them back in the original bin but I was curious about how fast they would breed. Well... didn't take long! Hit me up anytime!

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  7. I love that you washed your worms!!! Well I'm definitely going to take that into account. I'll have to see if I have a good spot for a bin inside. Otherwise, I'll just have to accept that the worms may end up having roommates outdoors...

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  8. Oh, and I added your link to our stuff we like section. Thanks again for that! I'm going to go buy rubbermaid tubs asap!

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  9. Awesome!! Happy worm wrangling!

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  10. I heart erin and jen. i'm both embarrassed (in this techno age) and proud to admit that Fix Something Today is the only blog i read and LOVE EVERY POST! Now I know for sure to never eat anything grown by disney and that kittens are super cute. But this review is a particular favorite. My one suggestion would be to add to your favorites the Guerilla Gardening websites. One is the original from london: guerillagardening.org and your local, and very active, troop laguerillagardening.org xo KEG

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  11. Thanks Kiernan!! Kittens are definitely super cute, and we must get the word out. I totally will add the guerilla gardening websites. I can't believe I forgot to add them already! I've been meaning to pass on their seed bomb recipe to a couple of people who've been looking to spruce up some medians...

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  12. Oh, and Yoonjo, I totally built a worm bin yesterday! It was really easy just like you said. I'll post a picture soon...

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  13. Congrats on building your bin! Can't wait to see the pics!

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  14. Thank you so much for this article. I was thinking of buying this product and yours it the only review I could find. It seems you have done your homework and I will not purchase this product or any other product from this company.

    Thank you.

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  15. You're very welcome ngcw! I'm glad my story was able to help you. Good luck with your garden and I hope you are able to find a good compost/soil product in your region!

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  16. Hello,

    Did you ever hear from Master Nursery about your findings with Bumper Crop? Did you hear anything back from anyone at the Coast of Maine? If you could let us know what, if anything, was their response. Did you send your test results to them directly? I appreciate any more info you might be able to offer. They seem so highly recommended. Thank you for your help!

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  17. Sounds like Janesville , WI landfill dirt....wires , plactic chunks....

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  18. I never had that problem with bumper crop and love the product!! I put some in all my potted plants and in the hole of the ground planted ones and they
    turn out wonderful. My neighbors all comment on my yard! Can't imagine that above problem ~ never saw anything like that in my bumper crop.

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  19. I am using this product for the first time to try and help out my swamp like soil that is riddled with clay, they are in pots now waiting for the weather to break because nights are still in low 40's. There was nothing but the best in my bags, it felt like the richest soil i've ever felt. It was three times heavier (moisture REALLY holds in this soil) than the local nursery's master mix which was mainly peat moss, composted conifer bark, and perlite; it says it came with a wetting agent and initial ferts but I just assume that is the pearlite and the peat moss. After wetting it down I realized this soil is so heavy and even though it says it has good drainage it DOES NOT for potted plants at least, If it's tilled into your garden it will be way lighter assuming you have some decent soil that will allow the drainage. I mixed 40-40-20: Bumper Crop, Master Mix, and Perlite in ~5 gallon potters. May seem like a lot of perlite but trust me you want it. Happy gardening ya'll. I would recommend this soil and none of the statements in this review were true for me. Did NOT get a soil test but there was no need in my eyes. Will give update if my Jewish Tomatoes have any problems.

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  20. I bought two bags of Bumper Crop and was about to use it, but review has made me think twice about that. I usually add compost and composted manure to my soil and have had great results with that, but this year I did not have enough of either, and decided to pick up a few bags of BC at a local nursery. I'm surprised more testing results haven't been published on the Web. Most reviews consist of unsupported statements, saying how great the stuff is, so thanks for some real data. I've seen the kind of junk you described in commercial compost from a local supplier here on the Central Coast (CA) and that did not sit well with me. I hear your concerns. I don't think the test results are particularly horrible, but may have missed something. Read soil "uncontaminated" by lead means less than 50 ppm, your results show 27 ppm though the national average appears to be 10 ppm. As far as nitrogen is concerned, N2 becomes available to plants as NO3 or NH4 (nitrate of ammonium), so there may actually be plenty of nitrogen in the Bumper Crop, just present as NH4. Thanks for the review, I still think your decision to stick with good old fashioned compost is a good one. -Jon

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