Mother-son duo promoting soil-less gardening

Hyderabad: The Mother-son duo from Kompally has been promoting soil-less gardening for the last seven years. Krishna Karthik, 29, an engineering graduate, is now full-time into coco peat potting. "When I was studying, I dabbled in this as a hobby and also to make it easy for my mother. The news spread and my friends too asked for help. After my education, I decided to follow my passion," Karthink said. Thus, MahaGro was born.

"We successfully delivered 17,000 bags of odourless, soil-less mix to customers in 110 cities across India. We received positive feedbacks from the customers and most of them became our permanent customers. We have decided not to go for the expensive marketing methods, such as opening offices and appointing distributors," said 52-year-old Girija, the Mother and CEO of MahaGro The organic substitute promises four times more growth than with that of regular soil.

Around 30,000 potting mix users say it minimises soil-borne diseases, pests and weed growth. MahaGro, a substitute for soil, is all purpose premium Coco Peat Potting Mix helping plant lovers to go struggle free. Placing small plants indoor often brings with it the worry of insects or the interiors getting dirty. MahaGro is made with three organic materials that help plants grow faster and healthier. It requires minimal water and keeps surroundings stain-free of soil, says Krishna Karthik, the founder of MahaGro.

"MahaGro is a unique blend of organic materials like Coco peat helps in retaining water, which means you water once or twice a week depending on the conditions and Vermiculite. It provides great aeration for the roots to grow faster and healthier. The 100% Organic Slow Release Fertilizer added in the mix provides ample nutrition for the plants to grow healthy," he added.

"The marketing is done only through social media and by the word of mouth. We rely on FaceBook, Amazon and Google AdWords," says Krishna Karthik. "Moreover, absence of soil reduces the peat. It holds water very well. You don't have to lose sleep over the stains that the soil-based pots leave on the walls and with the range of attacks by the soil-borne diseases. There's no scope for growth of weeds too," says Karthik.