Why TDS pellets are the best in the market. Fact.

As manufacturers we like to say our products are the best. Rather frustratingly, our competitors like to make similiar claims. 

When it comes to slug pellets we take any challenge to our claim to be the manufacturer of the ‘best’ pellet in the market highly seriously. Why? Because we’ve tested them, all of them, and can say with confidence that our pellets perform better on a number of important attributes than those of the competition.

The challenge for us is to communicate these benefits in a coherent manner that makes it easy for advisers and their growers to understand. 

We use terms such as ‘persistence’, ‘durability’, ‘spreadibility’, and ‘efficacy’.  Some of these are easier to define than others, but they are all components of quality pellet.

Recently, we have received several enquiries relating to durability; specifically, how long will a pellet endure the continued wet weather before they start to lose their potency.

Put another way, what’s a pellet’s half-life?

Well the straight answer is: it depends.  It depends on a number of variables; the manufacturing process used, the size of the pellet, the quality of the ingredients, environmental conditions immediately surrounding the pellet. The list goes on.  

So without wishing to baffle you with complicated science we conducted a basic test that demonstrates how different brands of slug pellet are likely to perform in the field environment that is commonplace today.

We took four of the best-known pellet brands available and soaked a small quantity of each in water for 24 hours. Proud of our efforts, we sat back to see what happened. 

It might not be the most rigorous of tests, but the results speak for themselves.

Because the test was not a controlled experiment and because our competitors would object to us presenting their products in this way we are unable to name the brands used.  That is with the exception of our own pellet, of course. 

We consistently state that TDS is the best pellet available; on this basic measure of durability can you tell which pellet is TDS?

Of course, it’s the pellets in the bottom dish.  And to prove that after 24 hours fully immersed in water it hadn’t lost its efficacy we spent 15 minutes walking the hedgerows outside our office looking for a volunteer for a taste test we had planned.

As you can see, despite being in water for 24 hours TDS retained its efficacy. We took some time out for coffee and a chat and, upon our return, were forced to bring together a small gathering to mourn the passing of our latest friend.

We say TDS is the best slug pellet available for a good reason: it is.  But then we would say that wouldn’t we.

We've recently re-run this trial for five days (see bottom picture).  The results are staggering.  It's hard to think of a better example of what demonstrates persistence. TDS (on the right) is the only pellet that has retained its integrity while the dry process pellet on the left has virtually dissolved altogether.