A masterful product

Photo courtesy of Perennials Plus

Before becoming a Masterblend customer in the early 2000s, Perennials Plus co-owner John Platt spent valuable hours beating bags of hardened fertilizer into a consistency fit for pouring into solution. As Masterblend’s water-soluble fertilizers are mixed and bagged upon order in an environmentally controlled blending room — resulting in fresh product that flows freely into Platt’s stock tanks — the time he took in breaking apart stubborn fertilizer clumps is a thing of the past.

“Their bags haven’t been sitting around for weeks or months,” Platt says. “Generally speaking, I can call on Monday and have the fertilizer by end of week or first thing the following week.”

Perennials Plus, which sells 350 different perennial varieties as well as a host of annuals, ornamental grasses and other products, purchases two 100-bag pallets of fertilizer per order. The retailer utilizes three Masterblend formulas: 20-10-20, 17-4-17 and a blend containing extra boron for ideal pansy growth. Additionally, Masterblend’s water analysis service helpfully tests samples from the plant seller’s on-site wells.

“We use the 17-4-17 as a starter fertilizer until the plants are fully rooted, and the 20-10-20 when they go into their blooming or color stage,” Platt says. “We also like to have our water tested to make sure we’re using the right amount of fertilizer, or if anything’s changed in the well that we need to pay attention to.”

Platt had been applying various fertilizer brands before discovering Masterblend at a trade show. The company’s diverse product line and competitive pricing hooked him, and he hasn’t looked back since. What’s more, Masterblend’s customer service is as timely as its product orders, usually returning Platt’s calls within hours.

Above all, Masterblend understands that nurturing plants is more complicated than putting them in soil and watching them grow. Platt’s long relationship with the company has cultivated a high level of trust that is nothing less than priceless.

“Fertilizer is one area I don’t have to worry about because the product is of such good quality, and our plants react to [Masterblend fertilizer] the way I expect them to,” he says. “That takes one more thing off my plate. I don’t have to think about fertilizer because I know it’s going to work. Everything has to be potted on a certain date or fed a certain way. When it works you can follow that schedule really easily.”