New house with pond, need algae (duckweed?) advice...

[gregmuzila]

I just got a new house a few months ago, pond was all nice and clean. Now I am getting tons of green stuff growing in it. It is a .6 acre pond about 16 ft deep in areas. It comes with from the street creek and has an overflow drain so it doesn't overfill too much.

Pond is stocked with plenty of fish, snails, and muscles and a few turtles. Currently no geese or ducks (were a few months ago) There are iris plants growing along the side. I was told the pond gets about half taken-over with lilly pads and lotus flowers.

See pics for better info..

 

[sissy]

surprised the fish have not eaten it .They love that stuff .

 

[HTH]

That is a LOT of duckweed!

Duckweed is used in water purification plants. It is busy taking nutrients and heavy metals out of the water. In a week it will grow about 75%. It is making the water healthier but I do see the problem.

You could mechanically harvest and compost it. But it will be a never ending battle. You might have a better shot at controlling it in the spring. The sites that talk about duckweed control note that it is really a high nutrient problem and unless you control the nutrients you are fighting a loosing battle.

It comes with from the street creek

I am not sure what this means exactly but if you can work to prevent runoff from fertilized lawns from entering the pond it could help.

 

[sissy]

run off could bring all kinds of fertilizers and stuff into the pond not just from homes but also from farms .Those cows love to poop :cheerful:

 

[crsublette]

Yeah, I am suprised the fish have not eaten the stuff. I never can keep duckweed growing like that in my pond since it always gets eaten.

Still, very interesting. Shows why duckweed is illegal to have in east Texas.

I would be concerned about the duckweed obstructing the atmospheric oxygen from penetrating the water's surface area since the air will come more into contact with the duckweed rather than the water. I have read articles of small flowing rivers getting over ran by water hycanith, so much so special hovercraft shredders must be used, due to the plant causing aquatic kills from the lack of oxygen. I would never think this could happen with duckweed since it's such a small plant, but, heck, if it grows extremely dense, then it makes that it would suffucate the water.

Still very interesting to see this happen with duckweed.

Sorry it is causing grief. I hope you can find a solution to it.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Look at all that duckweed! I have a 5 gallon container I'm trying to grow some in and it just wont spread....

 

[sissy]

I have a stock tank full and if you want it to grow faster a little miracle grow and it just grows and grows .That is why I was wondering about run off feeding his .Lots of nutrients could be running in there to feed it .

 

[cr8tivguy]

Go into business selling it! I spent $7 for a cup of the stuff. YEAH COTTAGE INDUSTRY!

 

[sissy]

I just left mine outside but guess you could bring some in and save it each year .

 

[HTH]

From what I read duckweed is supposed to naturally (auto magically) go to the pond bottom each fall and come back up in the spring. Nature is clever that way.

 

[shakaho]

Yes, sell it. I have to buy duckweed every six months or so, since it grows for a few months, then dies out. No matter how well I care for it I can't grow enough to make it more than a weekly treat for my fish.

I can't imagine how you can grow it in a pond with fish.

 

[sissy]

see you could get rich off your duck weed selling it on craigslist or e-bay by the bag .Gosh money for a weed who knew . :cheerful:

 

[Fishylove]

Ponders can't keep it spreading in their ponds because they use what we try so hard to remove
And I agree on the selling thing, people pay good money for that stuff! Looks like you might have some fairy moss in there too

 

[Fishylove]

The marshes here are covered with the stuff. I filled the floating ring in my pond up with fairy moss and duck weed, and my little stinkers bumped it and jumped on the ring until it ALL cameout and they ate it all! My fishy's are turds! Lol