The Espoma Company began production in 1929 with its first product called Espoma Organic. The product was a proprietary blend of natural materials available near the company’s location in Millville, NJ. These ingredients were blended and bagged using shovels, wheelbarrows, scales and the sweat of employees’ backs. With product in hand founder H.G. Sanders set out on the road selling in the New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. markets.

The Company survived the Depression years this way, but growth was slow and the work was hard. It was not until the late 1940’s that H.G. would create the Company’s number one selling product and change the face of The Espoma Company forever. The product was Holly-tone.

Mr. Sanders foresaw the need for a new type of plant food specifically designed for hollies and other acid loving plants. After testing several formulations with local nurseries, he pioneered the development of the first organically balanced plant food formulated to fulfill the requirements for these types of plants. He called it “Holly-tone”.

Today, Holly-tone is considered by professional and amateur gardeners to be the number one plant food for all acid loving plants. In addition to this brand leader, Espoma now manufactures over 48 products that cover virtually every plant nutritional need. The Company’s brands are well recognized and carried by every major distributor and retailer in the eastern United States. The once modest operation in Millville, NJ has expanded over a dozen times to become a modern, state-of-the-art blending and packaging facility. And H.G. Sanders’ great grandson has become the fourth generation of management to enter the Company.