remarkable start – about 2,000 clients in its first year in business. Equally remarkable, it’s expecting a retention rate well north of 90 percent heading into its second season, said President and CEO William "Bill" Hoke at a press conference for Holganix at the GIE+EXPO here Oct. 23.Hoke credited the company’s fast start to several factors, not the least of which is the decades of industry experience that he and his partners brought to their fledgling lawn care business. For example, Hoke served as a TruGreen manager (3 years), region vice president (9 years) and division vice president (2 years) before launching NexGreen in January 2013.
But more important to the company’s initial success, said Hoke, has been the great results that NexGreen’s 6-step program has been consistently providing to clients’ lawns. He attributes much of this success to the use of the "bionutritional" product offered by Holganix, based in Glen Mills, Pa.
Hoke said by using the Holganix bionutrients his technicians have been able to reduce the amount of synthetic fertilizers more than third previously required to give clients dark green, healthy lawns. The key, he said, is the ability of the bionutrients to stimulate beneficial microbes in the soil and aid turfgrass roots to take up nutrients heretofore unavailable to them. And yes, his technicians do provide spot treatments, when needed, to control weeds and turf pests, he said responding to a question from the press.
The Holganix website describes its lawn care product as "a highly evolved compost team with active bionutrients."
In addition to Hoke comments, Holganix CEO Barrett Ersek and Steven T. Lange, the developer of the organic lawn care bionutrient product, provided background information on the company and its products.
Following the press conference, somewhere between 175 and 200 people then participated in the company’s 2nd Annual Bionutritional Summit.
The event, which lasted the remainder of the afternoon, featured a keynote address by industry consultant Judith Guido, and presentations and breakout sessions featuring Lange, Brian Bacigalupo from Real Green Systems, Holganix Head of Marketing Nicole Wise, tree specialist Elliot H. Schaffer and Hoganix VP and COO Dave Thompson.
