EntoGrow is a unique product that can help gardeners of all experiences and abilities care for your garden all year round. Where do we start on the benefits of EntoGrow™? There are so many, and it seems that this outstanding mealworm manure (frass) fertiliser will be well-known in UK households in the coming year.

As our climate changes and growers adjust their gardening choices accordingly, the benefits of frass in helping plants deal with the stress of increased drought and the immigration of new pests will be widely acknowledged.

Here, horticulturist and co-founder of EntoGrow, Emma Strong explains the benefit of using their organic fertiliser and soil conditioner across your gardening needs. She also talks about the exciting business of farming organic mealworms in the UK, their wide range of uses and how others can farm them at home!

Empower Your Flowers with EntoGrow! An organic, powerful, kind fertiliser to help care for your garden.

EntoGrow's organically reared mealworms produce a wonderfully nutrient-packed by-product, frass. It is a fine sand-textured substance and as EntoGrow's production of mealworms expands, so does their volume of organic fertiliser for the eco-conscious gardener especially in mind. There are many versatile applications of EntoGrow for the individual purchaser of their 1 or 5-litre tubs.

Emma says, “We have had our frass analysed and it always comes back with even better than hoped-for results. The organic matter does a brilliant job of securing the nitrogen content in the soil, around the plants roots and we use our frass on our own allotment and we can see the difference, let alone taste it, compared to the vegetables planted without EntoGrow. 

“We have done side-by-side trials to show just how remarkable the benefits of our fertiliser are for your garden”

EntoGrow™  is proven to be best applied as a potting soil additive, so sprinkled in with compost whilst potting on younger seedlings. But, it is also very effective used as a top dressing on beds and borders. The properties in the frass act as a booster so that the best bits (NPK and all the beneficial minerals) are sucked up by the roots. People also use diluted tea as a leaf mist. 

The climate changes around the globe are affecting all plants and growth, whether crops or gardens. New pests are becoming commonplace as the UK has hotter temperature records and drought and diseases are even taking yields from farmers, as well as the allotment growers and home garden plant growers. Businesses that grow and sell plants to gardeners are suffering as people begin to consider leaving gardens bare and untendered due to an increase in plant mortality. EntoGrow products are especially adept at promoting resilience in plants toward drought, pests and disease. Through different applications and environments, the unique biostructure of EntoGrow boosts growth and increases health and longevity. It deters pests from the plants without killing them and as it is organic and chemical-free, there is no risk of chemical runoff or burn.

Founded in 2021 by husband and wife team Mike and Emma, Worcester-based EntoGrow breeds mealworms for the emerging sustainable feed industry, manufacturing an organic fertiliser, EntoGrow, as an auxiliary product. Realising that the mealworm industry is dominated by product from Asia, the objective of EntoGrow is to provide a high-quality product with traceable UK provenance. To this end, the company brought in its first batch of mealworms from a respected UK supplier and every batch since has been bred by the company, on its Worcestershire farm, introducing new gene pools periodically from other high-quality UK suppliers.

"Our mealworms have not been stored in freight or travelled outside of the UK. The lineage is clean and traceable to our own farm in Worcestershire. This means customers are opting for sustainable and environmental solutions to feeding their animals. Not one antibiotic or chemical has been near our mealworms."

Success of the company to date is evidenced by the attainment of the Made in Britain standard and logo, and EntoGrow winning the 'Most Sustainable Business'  at the Enterprising Worcestershire Awards 2023.

"Support from our local county business development programme was the first thing that was recommended and I'm glad I took that advice. The support was highly relevant and critical for a new business."

After some successful Start-Up Grant funding facilitated the purchase of a farming unit,  the company has built its turnover by circa 50% since the unit was procured, with stock levels increasing by roughly 500%. 

Mike Bolton and Emma Strong built the business of EntoGrow upon ethical foundations. With transparency in all of their supply chains, most of which are UK based, they aim to maintain the company’s status as sustainable, by the way they farm their mealworms, using solar based energy, and few resources. “The success of our rapid growth in product is partly down to our bespoke equipment, manufactured locally and having excellent business relations with these suppliers, as well as our local councils who are very supportive of sustainable business.”

“We use recycled and recyclable packaging, there is little to no waste in our mealworm farm and we are working closely with an Environmental Sustainability student from Worcester University to ensure we are continually improving upon our carbon footprint as a business”. 

Based in Worcestershire, EntoGrow has been awarded the ‘Made in Britain’ logo and is certified Organic with ‘Organic Farmers & Growers’.

“We breed organically raised mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) for various purposes, including live mealworms for poultry owners and wild bird feeders, exotic pet owners and keepers of Koi Carp”.

EntoGrow is also the UK distributor for The Bug Factory, a brilliant solution for people who feed mealworms to live birds, reptiles or chickens on a regular basis.

“Purchasing mealworms by post can be a bit of an expensive experience if doing it regularly,” Emma comments, “growing your own can be the perfect solution. Mealworms are a very clean dry insect and they need little care and fuss in the way the Bug Factory is so cleverly designed”.

“The whole world needs alternative sources of protein, to reduce the need for unsustainable and high carbon products like soy and meat. The pet feed industry uses 20 percent of the world's meat and insects are a way of providing all of the essential protein and nutrients (and more) in an eco-friendly alternative. For wild bird feeders and owners of poultry, birds, fish or exotic pets in the UK, it is important to know what is going into your beloved animals, so breeding their feed yourself brings huge peace of mind. The Bug Factory offers a sustainable and far lower cost alternative.”

Emma and Mike recently attended the Global Birdfair 2024 with their stock of Bug Factory(s) and during their stay, many people purchased the items so they could use mealworms to feed birds safely and also use mealworms to feed bats and rescued wildlife in rehabilitation centres. “I was fortunate to be able to give a talk at the show, on the dangers of feeding wild birds with products, without knowing their true origin. Many dried mealworms we import from Asia are farmed using masses of chemicals and hormones to preserve them and prevent them from pupating in the factories – we have no idea the impact this has on our wildlife in the UK”, Emma says.

Due to the high cost of importing the needed tonnage of dried and processed mealworms from Asia or Europe, feed manufacturers are using soy, wheat or shrimp protein. “They would prefer to use mealworm protein-based feed as it is very high in protein and chitin, if it was available in the UK for the right price, so it is imperative the industry in the UK grows”, However, Emma is also hopeful as more ethically produced insect-based pet feed and treats are gradually showing up in UK pet stores.

www.entogrow.co.uk

For more information on the wide range of products provided by EntoGrow, visit their website and look out for them at your local garden retail centres. For any queries please email enquiries@entogrow.co.uk