April 15th 06, 05:54 PM
my friend The Pond Lady has a duckweed problem inside her greenhouse ponds where she
grows her lotus and water lilies. she broadcasts the fertilizer. she uses something
like a protein skimmer to remove the excess duckweed (it shades and cools the water
too much and uses too much of the fert.
so duckweed grows on ponds with fertilizer. INgrid
Galen Hekhuis > wrote:
>Some time ago I asked about duckweed, as I didn't know if it should be
>introduced to the pond by my house. That question has been resolved. I
>don't know exactly how (ducks or wind or something) but I have duckweed
>growing in my pond now. My brother tells me duckweed is a sign of a
>healthy pond, in that it can't grow in really foul water. Reading about it
>a bit, it seems that it is fairly good at cleaning up metals like copper
>and cadmium, but not too terrific at stuff like lead or nickel. It does a
>dandy job on organic type toxins, and that "recent research shows that
>duckweeds actively remove and metabolize certain pesticides and industrial
>wastes." I'm impressed.
>
>Should I be worried or doing something? I'm quite content to have a bunch
>of duckweed, I just wonder if I will eternally curse the day I let the
>duckweed into my pond. There is this stuff called "Sonic" that is supposed
>to completely kill the duckweed (and any other floating plant) but be
>harmless to frogs, fish, and rooted plants. Being as how I'm not growing
>anything in the pond right now (except frogs) now would be an ideal time to
>deal with the duckweed, if indeed it needs to be dealt with.
>
>I've got an unlined pond about 30 feet in diameter now, and about 3 feet
>deep (it used to be about 50 feet in diameter, and about 5 feet deep, but
>we haven't had hardly any rain at all this spring). I have a bubble type
>aerator in it (thanks to Roy's advice, but he says he has me in his kill
>file for some reason, so someone will have to tell him I guess) and not
>much else (it used to be a garbage pit, I had a bulldozer clean it out, so
>it's like starting from scratch). I don't plan to have any fish, although
>if I can catch some of those mosquito eating fish (I forget the name) that
>live in the back pond I'll be "stocking" the pond by the house with some of
>those.
>
>So how do folks feel about duckweed, should it stay or should it go?
>
> Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
> Illiterate? Write for FREE help
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan
grows her lotus and water lilies. she broadcasts the fertilizer. she uses something
like a protein skimmer to remove the excess duckweed (it shades and cools the water
too much and uses too much of the fert.
so duckweed grows on ponds with fertilizer. INgrid
Galen Hekhuis > wrote:
>Some time ago I asked about duckweed, as I didn't know if it should be
>introduced to the pond by my house. That question has been resolved. I
>don't know exactly how (ducks or wind or something) but I have duckweed
>growing in my pond now. My brother tells me duckweed is a sign of a
>healthy pond, in that it can't grow in really foul water. Reading about it
>a bit, it seems that it is fairly good at cleaning up metals like copper
>and cadmium, but not too terrific at stuff like lead or nickel. It does a
>dandy job on organic type toxins, and that "recent research shows that
>duckweeds actively remove and metabolize certain pesticides and industrial
>wastes." I'm impressed.
>
>Should I be worried or doing something? I'm quite content to have a bunch
>of duckweed, I just wonder if I will eternally curse the day I let the
>duckweed into my pond. There is this stuff called "Sonic" that is supposed
>to completely kill the duckweed (and any other floating plant) but be
>harmless to frogs, fish, and rooted plants. Being as how I'm not growing
>anything in the pond right now (except frogs) now would be an ideal time to
>deal with the duckweed, if indeed it needs to be dealt with.
>
>I've got an unlined pond about 30 feet in diameter now, and about 3 feet
>deep (it used to be about 50 feet in diameter, and about 5 feet deep, but
>we haven't had hardly any rain at all this spring). I have a bubble type
>aerator in it (thanks to Roy's advice, but he says he has me in his kill
>file for some reason, so someone will have to tell him I guess) and not
>much else (it used to be a garbage pit, I had a bulldozer clean it out, so
>it's like starting from scratch). I don't plan to have any fish, although
>if I can catch some of those mosquito eating fish (I forget the name) that
>live in the back pond I'll be "stocking" the pond by the house with some of
>those.
>
>So how do folks feel about duckweed, should it stay or should it go?
>
> Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
> Illiterate? Write for FREE help
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?hl=en&q=puregold&qt_s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan