PVA foam nuggets

Anybody use them?

Bought some today (Gardner) and gave the foam a test in a bucket of water with the foam enveloping a hook. In videos I've watched it shows the foam once dissolved enough departing from the hook and floating to the surface. In my test after five minutes it was still attached to the hook albeit very squidgy and fell away easily when handled, is this the norm?

Not what I have experienced with them although I haven't used the Gardner ones, how hard did you squeeze them onto the hook they don't need much pressure after a lick to keep them on the hook.

I did squeeze with a fair amount of pressure, maybe that's the problem,

I've used them a lot over the last 10 - 15 years. You are right, some of them do not dissolve properly at all. They are not PVA they are (I think?) some sort of edible puffed wheat - the coloured ones do not seem to dissolve as well as the plain uncoloured ones. When hair rigging choritzo or similar baits I sometimes found that the hook had speared the bait making the rig useless - I found that using two bits of dissolvable foam, licking one and then sticking the second piece of foam to the first over the hook solved this problem. What also assists in the release of the foam is to not use too small bits because then it is not buoyant enough to float away and dissolve. These foam nuggets are also used in packing but test it because it does not all dissolve.

I’ve got boxes full of the packing nuggets in the loft, I assumed they were made of some entirely different.

S63: test it at home first - it does not all dissolve?!!!

I've used packing nuggets for years. There are 2 types. One's made from starch and the others from PVA. Although the Starch does dissolve the PVA are best to use. You can buy a A4 sized box full( a good few hundred) for under a fiver. Most removal and storage companies sell them.