Business carves out bio-based niche

Wednesday,  August 6, 2008 2:42 PM

By DAVID S. OWEN

ThisWeek Staff Writer

Inspired by their dog, Spanky, Christine and Steve Scott added a new product, Bio Plant Wash, to their Go BioBased product line.

A Reynoldsburg business owner thinks she has come up with bio-friendly product that not only washes pesticides off lawns but helps grow better fruits and vegetables.

Christine Scott said she and her husband, Steve, founded RES-Q Cleaning Solutions at 63 Klema Drive, off Taylor Road, in 2000 to sell a variety of all-purpose cleaning products. A trip to the vet with their dog, Spanky, however, prompted them to investigate bio-based products.

The end result was a line called Go BioBased and a product called Bio Plant Wash that seems to be establishing its own niche. The family-run business employs the Scotts and sometimes Steve's two sons, but since they started marketing the plant wash a year ago, Christine Scott said both her parents also have been working there.

Eventually, she said, she hopes to hire more people if the demand for the products continues to grow.

Scott said the Bio Plant Wash makes fruits, vegetables and lawns greener and healthier and is safe on the environment.

"It can make brown lawns turn green again and makes the root system in your grass grow, which helps block weeds," Scott said.

She would not reveal what's in the plant wash because, she said, the formula is proprietary. However, Scott said, it contains no toxic materials.

"It is not a pesticide," she said. "It's better than pesticides, and we manufacture it here in Reynoldsburg and do all the shipping."

According to the company's Web site, Go BioBased products -- which now include a pet line and a janitorial line -- contain chemical extracts and oils derived from fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetable crops and plant matter.

Scott said her dog, Spanky, was the inspiration to develop the plant wash.

"About three years ago, we noticed Spanky was chewing his paws bloody so we took him to the vet," she said.

The veterinarian determined the dog was chewing his paws because the pesticide sprayed on a neighbor's yard had run off onto their lawn.

"The vet said, 'you're getting chemical runoff into your yard which is poisoning your pet' and that's what got us into doing what we're doing with this plant wash," Scott said. "We began working with chemists to get a formula, making sure we got everything all natural and bio-based, which is a really hard thing to do."

She said once they came up with a formula, they began testing it and found that it not only helped clean pesticides off lawns, it also helped vegetables grow bigger.

Although the family worked with chemists on the formula for the plant wash, the product is not required to be scientifically tested because it contains no pesticides, Scott said.

She said it would cost $100,000 or more to have the U.S. Environmental Projection Agency test it and they don't have the money for that right now.

Landscape horticulturalist and designer Nick McCullough, owner of McCullough's Gardens Landscape & Nursery between New Albany and Johnstown, said he has been using the product for more than a year.

"It's a great product and goes right along with the green movement," McCullough said. "My background is in high-end residential landscape maintenance, and so our landscape business uses it out in the field on our clients' properties," he said. "It does a great job at keeping plants healthy and keeping their immune systems strong."

Scott said she thinks everyone seems to be more interested in taking care of the planet and using bio-based products.

"Business is really picking up. We're starting to get calls from Japan and Canada and all over," she said.

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