The Azolla Foundation

[crsublette]

I have known of this plant for sometime, but never knew there as a foundation setup to promote it... So... found it quite interesting enough so to share.

To help out reducing nitrates and phosphates, then checkout this very invasive, fast growing plant... So... this also might mean it is "illegal" in some wet states (grrr) but sometimes us garden ponders are just rebels of the law... the burden we carry.

As far as I understand it, the plant is much like duckweed in that it is good fish food and apparently good to feed other livestock.

http://theazollafoundation.org/

Check it out.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I have known of this plant for sometime, but never knew there as a foundation setup to promote it... So... found it quite interesting enough so to share.

To help out reducing nitrates and phosphates, then checkout this very invasive, fast growing plant... So... this also might mean it is "illegal" in some wet states (grrr) but sometimes us garden ponders are just rebels of the law... the burden we carry.

As far as I understand it, the plant is much like duckweed in that it is good fish food and apparently good to feed other livestock.

http://theazollafoundation.org/

Check it out.

Azolla, Duckweed or similar plants will not last long enough in a Koi pond to become invasive.

 

[crsublette]

Azolla, Duckweed or similar plants will not last long enough in a Koi pond to become invasive.

Yep, that's why I wouldn't grow it inside the pond... simply build an external, few inch depth, deep water culture (DWC) grow bed (could be in the ground attached to the pond or above ground), divert some water from the main pump, and let the external DWC gravity flow back into the pond.... or could integrate this with a stream with DWCs attached to the side.

As the DWC fills up with the plant... toss some of it to the pond for the fish to eat.

 

[Mmathis]

My goldfish devour azolla just as fast as they do duckweed! @crsublette I like your idea for the DWC -- filtration and a never-ending supply for the fish -- but how would you keep the azolla from flowing back into the pond? Anyway, I was pulling some out of a tub this afternoon to "treat" the goldies and noticed just how long the roots are! I was surprised, for such a tiny plant.

 

[fish_tale]

I had azolla in my pond when I first started it up ~6 weeks ago...it made nice shade, but didn't last long at all; I don't know that 6 tiny fish could've eaten so much of it so quickly, but there are only a few straggler pieces left...

 

[crsublette]

My goldfish devour azolla just as fast as they do duckweed! @crsublette I like your idea for the DWC -- filtration and a never-ending supply for the fish -- but how would you keep the azolla from flowing back into the pond? Anyway, I was pulling some out of a tub this afternoon to "treat" the goldies and noticed just how long the roots are! I was surprised, for such a tiny plant.

Basically... just take a container that can handle the weather... bury it... allow the water to flow in and out... place a "screening" material on the outlet to stop most of the azolla from escaping into the pond... likely will be some that escapes into the pond, but, since this stuff grows so fast, won't really matter...

If the container is plastic... then use a hole saw to drill the holes in the container so to install a Uniseals for the inlet and outlet.... so the water can gravity flow through.

For how the water gets there into it... this will take some ingenuity

 

[zigzagbuddha]

I came here looking for helpful hints and good ideas for keeping my fairy moss contained, and here is this thread about azolla! The link you posted is interesting, but it is more scientific in nature and I don't feel my question is appropriate for that forum... this one seems better for it, I sure hope so anyway!

I just moved into my new house about 7 months ago. There was a small manmade pond with a waterfall out in the back with just a few inches of muddy water in the bottom. We even found a little 3 or 4 inch goldfish in the muck... what a little survivor!! We cleaned up the pond and filled it back up, got a couple more goldfish from the pet store and I have been happily buying plants for it ever since.

The thing is, there is a faerie theme going on in the yard so when I saw 'fairy moss' for sale at the online pond store I use I had to have it. They sold it by the pound so I bought a pound and when it arrived today I trotted out to the pond and naively dumped the whole bag in. It immediately spread out over the entire pond so that my underwater plants won't get any sun (and they already get only 4 hours of morning sun, by noon the pond is in full shade). And I can't see my darling little fishies either!

I netted out a lot of it and put it in a small fountain but it still covers the entire surface of the pond. I don't want to get rid of it but rather would like to contain it somehow. I haven't been able to come up with a solution to the problem after an afternoon of brainstorming and am hoping that someone here might have some ideas for me to try. Help!

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome, no matter what brought you to us!

If you give it a few more days, the fish will eventually find it....problem of having it cover the entire pond solved. I keep a tub or 2 growing that I'll net from to feed the fish. They love it!

There is a "sticky" somewhere on here [DIY section, maybe] about making a floating plant ring. If you use something like window screening, you can float things like azolla in this containment ring where the fish can't get to it. That way you could still let it grow in the pond. Or you could fill a tub or tote with pond water and add the azolla. Once the plants cover the water surface [which is pretty fast] they will also serve to keep mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water. And again, you can net some out to feed as treats.

Hope this helps!

 

[zigzagbuddha]

Welcome, no matter what brought you to us!

If you give it a few more days, the fish will eventually find it....problem of having it cover the entire pond solved. I keep a tub or 2 growing that I'll net from to feed the fish. They love it!

There is a "sticky" somewhere on here [DIY section, maybe] about making a floating plant ring. If you use something like window screening, you can float things like azolla in this containment ring where the fish can't get to it. That way you could still let it grow in the pond. Or you could fill a tub or tote with pond water and add the azolla. Once the plants cover the water surface [which is pretty fast] they will also serve to keep mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water. And again, you can net some out to feed as treats.

Hope this helps!

Thank you! And yes, it has helped me a lot! The pond is pretty small so I don't want to take any of it away from my fish but that has given me an idea... I've got some old hose laying around here which I will connect into a ring, put the water lettuce that is floating around in the pond and getting it's roots stuck on other plants into the ring, attach the ring to the rocks at the edge and see if that will act as a barrier to catch most of the fairy moss, keeping it in one place rather than over the whole surface. Hope it works!

I hope the fish will eat it too! thought I saw one of them dart up and take a bite but I wasn't sure. They are pretty picky eaters (I rue the day my sister brought home the tetras fish flakes she got at cvs because that is all they want to eat... I don't give it to them anymore because they were growing so fast they were about to get bigger than the pond!)

And I'm happy to hear that it will prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water! I thought that maybe it was sometimes called mosquito fern because it attracted them!

 

[Mmathis]

@zigzagbuddha Gee, I hadn't thought of "why" it's called mosquito fern -- I've seen that as well..... But as far as your pond goes, you shouldn't ever have a problem with mosqitoes. They prefer to lay their eggs in still water. And even if they did lay eggs in the pond, believe me, the fishies would gobble them up!

 

[zigzagbuddha]

@zigzagbuddha Gee, I hadn't thought of "why" it's called mosquito fern -- I've seen that as well..... But as far as your pond goes, you shouldn't ever have a problem with mosqitoes. They prefer to lay their eggs in still water. And even if they did lay eggs in the pond, believe me, the fishies would gobble them up!

Well, we have armies of mosquitoes around our property because it stays so damp all the time, but I wasn't worried about the pond because that water is moving constantly and I know that even if they did find a quiet spot to lay some eggs it would just help keep my little darlings fed. What I was worried about was the fountain that I put some of the azolla in to get it out of the pond... it has recently stopped working and I haven't gotten around to figuring out why, so the water is just sitting in there, and it's right next to my patio so I was a little worried about inviting even more mosquitoes than the still water was inviting! And now I don't have to worry about it, because it is completely covered with the fairy moss!