PLANTABBS PRODUCTS was founded in 1921 by David H. Fulton and his brother T. R. Fulton, an avid gardener and a pharmacist, introduced the concept of using tablets to fertilize house plants. The Baltimore based company catapulted to fame when Mr. Fulton ran a full page advertisement in a fledgling publication named LIFE MAGAZINE. This led to stores such as Woolworth, Kresge and other sundry outlets to begin to sell the new PLANTABBS TABLETS in 10 and 25 cent packages. During the ensuing years many new products were introduced utilizing this format, and along with several acquisitions the company continued to grow and prosper throughout the 70’s and early 80’s.
Due to increased competition sales began to decline in the mid 80’s leading to the sale of PLANTABBS to TANGO INDUSTRIES, LTD. in 1989. The new ownership began to pair down the line and eliminated a number of under proforming products. In 1990 PLANTABBS identified an emerging market in the field of aquatic gardening. At the time there were no specific fertilizers for this market segment and work began with a leading grower, a horticultural university and several other prominent individuals to develop a product(s) to address this need.
Since that beginning, aquatics have become our number one priority and we have made numerous new introductions to meet the demands of our customers. During the following years this industry, despite prognosticators who called this a ‘hoola hoop’ business, has grown into a billion dollar entity in the lawn and garden field. Obviously, this has attracted many other companies to this industry and competition today is much greater than in the past years. Despite this new competition, our business continues to grow and we are the leading producer of aquatic fertilizers in this country. Aquatics now represent 50% of our business. PONDTABBS®, our aquatic fertilizer tablet, is the standard for the aquatic industry and is widely used throughout the world by commercial growers and hobbyists. Numerous other introductions, such as barley straw, granular fertilizers, nets, etc. have been developed and marketed by PLANTABBS and we will continue to be, as in the past, "INNOVATORS not IMITATORS."