The use of duckweed can help minimize the effect of such waste. If you live where there are trees, it is a good idea to put up a barrier such as chicken wire or plastic fencing to keep as many leaves out as possible. Remember they grow fast. Keeping a small amount of plants, which includes even duckweed, can be beneficial to fish as it provides shelter and … If you have a local pet store that has aquariums, see if they want to buy it to resell. I hope you are having a wonderful day up there in Florida. Duckweed is a water plant. Know if animals are killed or harmed. Duckweed isn’t toxic to animals or wildlife, but as stated above, if duckweed growth is left unchecked you could have in-direct problems in future. They can double the size of the colony every few days. If we had bought the fish too small, they would have passed through the netting and into the lake. Bacterial products added to pond filtration systems can compete with duckweed for nutrients and may keep duckweed under control. So cool! And also if you have tried mixing duckweed and moringa in feeding the tilapia. Hello Mary Wickison thanks for this information I just came across ur site and am a farmer from Nigeria. We also have a constant wind for several months. Thanks for stopping by and also sharing it. 26 Ways to Make Money From Your Small Farm. Like Like Because it can double every 1-2 days, by 60 days it could cover 79 acres! Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on November 13, 2017: We have raised our tilapia in three ways, all which have their plus sides and negatives. But we would have to find some zombies first. Because they are omnivores, I would say, try duckweed and see if works. LetitiaFT from Paris via California on June 30, 2012: I guess I got the tilapia backward. Answer: Yes they can, although only as supplemental feeding. Now however, duckweed is being touted as a miracle plant for many reasons including the following: Duckweed loves muck. I would like to know how long it take to raise you fish to comercial wegiht? Thing is, there are dozens of species and most of them are quite tiny. Once you have laid this in your shallow pond, secure it whilst you fill it with water. The high protein content of it makes this an ideal food for them. I have heard about the many positive uses of duckweed not long ago. The reason we decided to grow duckweed was to feed our tilapia. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on July 26, 2020: Depending on your set up, you could try this. Our duckweed is grown in separate shallow ponds and scooped out to feed the fish. Remember, in the wild duckweed will be growing in a pond which likely will have a build-up of silt and so will be dark and shallow. P.S. In the Wolffia genus, there are just individual leaves that are the size of a grain of sand and no roots. However, we never had it in our duckweed ponds. It produces hallucinations. But the primary reason people don’t like duckweed is that they mistake it for algae and don’t like the looks of it floating on the pond. New information I have nerver heard of presented beautifuly! So, how do you control duckweed? The whole fresh plant is used to make medicine. Q: I just bought a property that has a small pond on it. Malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, and the Zika virus are the five main diseases spread by mosquitoes here in Brazil and other parts of the world. They are a problem here as they are in Australia. Question: Do frogs like or dislike duckweed? We then fill a plastic box, it's about 33 liters capacity. Duckweed is a small floating plant which grows on ponds, and lakes. People sell it on Ebay! I believe they will. I want to know if you had fed it to chickens before and what was the results? Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on March 19, 2015: Thank you for your kind words, vote and sharing. We haven't used that system but I can see the benefit in doing so. Duckweed can be useful for reducing light and excess nutrients, and some fish love to eat it. There are home test kits or your city council should be able to direct you to a water testing center. Aquatic herbicides can be used with care if you follow the label directions. Not to eat, as they are carnivores. If started when they are young, they readily accept it. Joshua Rueff from Kansas City on April 03, 2013: Wow, now I'm going to have to introduce duckweed to my mini homestead - this may be a dumb question, but where do I find the duckweed to get started? Also, do rainstorms/wind kill the duckweed? What type of Tilapia do you have? Now Keegan, if I didn't know better I would think you didn't read my article. I didn't realize the young fish ate algae. Owlcation is part of the Hubpage network of sites. Does crank length affect the number of gears a bicycle needs? How will be to grow duckweed in my concrete ponds?? Where before, the cost of feeding them to adult size, would have been cost prohibitive. They are very green, as you can imagine, and initially smell rather like a wet dog (but that fades, fortunately). We in the Us could use duckweed to clean our drinking water. We can get downpours that last several hours and deposit an enormous amount of water in a short time. Politicians, lawyers, reality television, duckweed, kudzu, acorns, fire ants. On larger farm ponds, homemade skimmers and water hoses can push the duckweed along to an outlet point. By morning the inflammation was gone. In our region of Brazil, the UV light from the sun is in the extreme category. Duckweed is compatible with most small fish, but will be hungrily devoured by herbivore fish and some cichlids. Cheers! I live on a suburban pond which can sometimes be overwhelmed by duckweed. [25] [26] Duckweed removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and it may have value for climate change mitigation . Duckweed is good for a pond for many reasons when they are present in a moderate number in your pond. If you can't beat them, eat them. Answer: We started off with perhaps two tablespoons of duckweed that were sourced from local ponds. A friend here in Brazil has a couple trees and feeds the leaves to her dogs, in a vegetable mixture she combines with raw meat. Thank you so much for sharing all your info. For example, if you took man out of the equation, Mother Nature knows what to do to make the soil (or water) healthy and those plants are the ones which thrive. Article limit resets in {{ count_down }} days. Theresa Ast from Atlanta, Georgia on June 14, 2012: This is absolutely fascinating. Consumption of sufficient protein is important for a good health. Question: Is duckweed good for my outdoor guppy and guppy fry ponds? If you don't see this growth and your duckweed has long roots, more fertilizer is needed. The duckweed is a great cover for them to hide beneath. We went low tech and used bricks to hold it down from the constant wind we have here. Too bad I can't grow it in m pool. See the impact duckweed has on health, environment, animals, laborers. Each tunnel system has its own bio-filter and solid removal filters. A common native aquatic plant that is visible during summer months is duckweed. Duckweed can be a supplement for the tilapia but if you are growing them commercially, then you will need to give them commercial pellet food. I'm just joking with you I am sure you did. The advantage of duckweed is not just its speed of growth but because it grows on water, it frees up the land for farming food crops. If you have not registered, please sign up for a free account now. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I would suggest you have your water tested to ensure it is safe for consumption. Duckweed colonies provide shelter for many aquatic animals, including small fish, frogs, turtles and crayfish. With numbers like this, looking into cost effective ways to reduce their breeding areas, puts duckweed as a sensible option in many areas. That is a massive savings when you're feeding several thousand fish. The worst thing I ever did was introduce duckweed to one of my tanks. Suck on the end until water begins to flow out. Answer: The duckweed wouldn't become a problem if you can contain it. I still have a few questions. When we put them in our ponds, they began reproducing, so I have never kept any back to see how long one plant would survive, they just keep reproducing when in a suitable growing medium. Nasty little buggers. For some duckweed is a menace, for others it's a Godsend. We didn't use this approach for a few different reasons. Thank you. Do you know if this is being done in many locations, many countries? Anything that eats bugs that might bite me, can stay. There is much research going on in the far east and Latin America where they are trying to increase rearing fish for local populations as well as the export market. This can be done as a matter of course when you are harvesting your duckweed. Remember, you've added a lot of manure to the water, and you don't want to drink that. It tolerates both sunny and shady areas. Won't that kill the duckweed? Sustainable? For us, we built our pond to swim, fish and watch wildlife (see many earlier posts). Here on our farm we have sand at that base of our lakes. Not only did we save money by feeding them duckweed every other day, we think the fish would taste better with a diet which is more natural. This plant has the ability to reproduce rapidly, it can double in just 16 hours - 2 days, depending on its growing environment. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on November 14, 2017: I have just had a look at an article about it, and it sounds like a positive way to go. We started with 30g and 50g tilapia. My neighbor swears his mother-in-law can cure fever by putting a root under the bed of the feverish person. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on November 01, 2012: I couldn't agree more. In Palestine, they are looking at using duckweed to clean their water systems as they have very limited fresh water available. http://jgi.doe.gov/pond-dwelling-powerhouses-genom... Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on July 19, 2015: It is an amazing plant. There is always work to do on the farm.LOL. Onlookers should stand well back as there will be splashes. Plus the bigger they got, the more they ate! To ensure the fish get enough nutrients, we fed one day duckweed and the next day a commercial pellet fish food. I am planing to start a tilapia production project in Swaziland to supply our local market. I wish you every luck with your enterprise in Brazil. Duckweed grows successfully in the wild on ponds and there is no added aeration. One we have in our garden, the locals use it if they have dandruff. A study published in 2018 set out to analyse the protein bioavailability of duckweed – Wolffia globosa and found that it was extremely high in protein… Here they are in plague numbers. Sometimes things can be right under our noses and we don't appreciate them. Donna Campbell Smith from Central North Carolina on June 03, 2013: Thanks for the info. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on October 09, 2013: Yes it is simple, remember shallow still water is best. Clean the ponds and then start again with the duckweed. Sincerely from the wonderous Yucatan of Mexico. I've always loved duckweed for its aesthetic qualities, but I had no idea of its other uses. We encourage everything here with the exception of cane toads. It can clean the water from farms which are rearing cows, hogs, chickens etc. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Today I would like to highlight the positive side of duckweed and tell you why we have built specially designed ponds to grow this here on our farm in Brazil. Harvesting the duckweed is easy. I had no idea it was so useful! One lousy tiny piece and a few weeks later you'll be cursing the day you got it. Mosquitoes love shallow still pools of water to lay their eggs in. I will be watching the news for when you do find a solution to save the world. So for example when you go to a gas station, there is a pump for normal gas, diesel and also alcohol which is a bio-fuel. Controlling duckweed Duckweed on my pond Of course, any plant which grows so quickly is bound to make a nuisance of itself now and again and this is why many people, including me at one time, consider it to be bad news. There are different varieties of it but you may well have it there. You did an awesome job on covering this topic and made it so interesting to read. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on June 29, 2012: I am not sure what you mean about the tilapia making the water muddy. This protein is relatively easily absorbed in the body. For our algae problem in our lake, we decided to fill in two of our lakes after removing as many fish as possible. Now for the bad side of the ledger. Your article is fascinating. So often the western world would rather take a pill than use something herbal or natural. It was all a matter of getting enough circulation to keep the tank clean and having the water be still enough that the duckweed would survive. It was an expensive solution but as we saw it, our only one as we were facing a drought at the time. There are restrictions such as sending abroad, that is forbidden in many countries. If the fish don't like it, it will be left floating. There is a wonderful series of videos on YouTube called the Natural Farmer in which he speaks about the various roles of plants. That said some people lick them to get high. Using duckweed will reduce this rapid weigh gain by about 10 %. They will sit in the water waiting for insect to arrive. For those of you who don't know what duckweed is, it is a small floating plant that grows on still ponds. For instance, duckweed can be used to treat municipal wastewater. Put one end of a hose in your pond and the other end at a lower level. Is duckweed harmful? But what is all that bright green stuff, and is it good or bad? We put in about the size of a soccer ball (football) of duckweed in each cage. I began scooping out some quantities hoping to avoid a monoculture situation. The ponds never smelled of manure or stagnant. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on April 03, 2013: Glad you found it useful. I would say duckweed could be an ideal way to help feed your catfish and reduce feeding costs. If chicks were accustom to it from an early age, they would be more willing. As I have said above, if controlled it can be beneficial to a wildlife pond, b ut uncontrolled duckweed is a problem, if the surface is completely covered sunlight is shaded from getting into the pond.All living things need light to survive, so totally shading out sunlight will kill the submerged plants, invertebrates and other pond-life living in the bottom of the pond. However, if you have an entrepreneurial streak in you, you can bag it up and sell it. We do everything we can to encourage frogs to stay in our garden. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on June 03, 2013: The cane toad produces venom through its skin. We have also fed this to our chickens. As we scoop it out we let the majority of the water drain out of the net. However, once it is established, it can overwinter and stay green according to the RHS. With regards to the rainstorm, the problem could be that it would float out of your pond as the water rises. Thanks for sharing this info. Using this natural low-cost water treatment is not only good for the country but the environment as well, it's a win-win situation. Duckweed is a good candidate as a biofuel because it grows rapidly, produces five to six times as much starch as corn per unit of area, and does not contribute to global warming. Our lakes are governed by the water table and rise and fall as the rains come and go. Because we had our duckweed growing year round, there was never a reason to dry it. Thanks for stopping by. This is a major problem in many countries, not just third world countries. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on September 06, 2016: Pelo que tenho pesquisado, os níveis de proteína são os mesmos. Other plants are being grown for bio-fuel but none grow with the rapidity of duckweed. Where we live in Brazil, our temperature is almost a constant year round so I don't have first-hand knowledge about the effect of temperature on the speed of growth of duckweed. Duckweed can clean this water by absorbing the resulting chemicals. i always just thought it was some weird plant. I find it amazing how fast that plant can grow. Yes, it may well be all over the place. Sometimes it is hard to decipher what is folklore and what is fact here. Very helpful... Keep it up! : ). Coverage of a pond with duckweed and watermeal (they’re often found together) can cause significant problems for a pond. I'm glad you found the information useful. Duckweed could be the solution in many of these areas. At the time I wrote it we were farming tilapia and built our duckweed ponds as a way of saving money on the food. Angels are on the way to you this afternoon ps. It isn't just about tropical plants, I recently read a hub from a new hubber https://hubpages.com/living/Starting-a-Simple-Vege... about what plants grow well together. Eu acredito que isso seja verdade com lentilha de água. If you have never siphoned off anything, it's simple. Great article. In the fall, duckweed plants produce vegetative buds called turions that sink to the bottom of the pond for the winter. If it dies in the pond, it releases the nutrients back into the water. Duckweed is just annoying if you have fish because then it reduces your surface visibility so that you can't see them. In normal conditions, duckweed is just another part of the annual cycle of a pond or lake. It can double its size in 2 days. I still pass our water through a charcoal and pumice filter before drinking. This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. This coupled with the salt in the air which destroys fabric, plastics, metals meant we needed a high-quality liner. This is an interesting point. Duckweed cons . Now, when all the world is concerned about mosquitoes and the possibility for them to transmit the Zika virus, perhaps the time is right for city councils to take a fresh look at using this natural deterrent in lieu of spraying chemicals. With regards to drinking water, be careful. You have done a wonderful job of explaining why as well as the way you are growing duckweed. Answer: No, there is no oxygenation of the water. Because the duckweed can often be sourced for free, you have nothing to lose extra some of your time. It can clean the water from farms which are rearing cows, hogs, chickens etc. The earlier you introduce duckweed to the fish, the more money you can save on food and the more likely they are to accept it. But it’s a terrible idea to cultivate duckweed in your pond just to make fertilizer out of it as duckweed can harm the pond environment in many ways if grown excessively. Question: I have a pond covered in duckweed and want to sell it. Where we live is windy and it would all blow to one side. We had them in French Guiana when I worked there on sea turtles. Photo of individual duckweed plants. When we were first given ours for our ponds, we were given about a tablespoon of two different types. Question: Do you have a problem with the water in your shallow ponds getting too warm under the sun, especially with black liners? I'm glad you shared this. The frogs have come and gone and will return to spawn again. We made our ponds 30 m long by 2 m wide (98' x 6.5') and used a plastic liner in them. Or at least to use in conjunction with spraying. Mr. The reason we decided on those sizes was due to the size of netting on our cages. Sell it to fish farmers or those who are doing aquaponics with fish. A: Let’s look at duckweed to see if I can make it more palatable to you. Then I thought I ought to use the scoopings for mulch/fertilizer for the herb garden. As long as their population is minimal, and controlled, they might be very beneficial to your tank or pond. I would love to hear more about the uses of other plants that you are familiar with as you mentioned in one of the earlier comments. My husband and I have a small farm in northern Brazil where we raise tilapia for the local market. Tilapia will grow 3 grams a day with only commercial fish food. They do make depressions in the sand and also they can survive in very low water. So carnivores will eat it. We first discovered the benefits of duckweed after looking for ways to reduce the cost of raising our tilapia. Duckweed may be part of a water filtration system but where the health of you and your family are concerned, you can't be too careful. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on October 31, 2018: Regarding feeding duckweed to the chickens, my adult ones weren't that eager. **If you only have one pond of duckweed, keep some of your plants in a jar of water to use as a starter. We felt we could control the amount that was being eaten and change it if necessary. Editor's note: You can comment on IBJ stories by signing in to your IBJ account. One tilapia farm in our area harvest their fish at 4 or 5 months, then they drain their shallow ponds and scrape the clay bottom to remove a buildup of excrement. In some places, it is considered an invasive species and people want to eradicate it. The tiny, rounded leaves float on the water surface, resembling a mass of young cress plants. Watch this space. Tamra. Email questions to Jeff Rugg at info@greenerview.com. Although duckweed is most commonly found in still, nutrient-rich wetlands and ponds, it can grow almost anywhere. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on July 05, 2017: I wasn't familiar with the catfish you mentioned so I did a bit of research. It took me awhile but get around to writing it, but now I am glad I've done it. moonlake from America on October 06, 2013: I love the way duckweed looks on a pond. Feeding the fish duckweed has reduced our feeding bill by half! We still feed them a commercially prepared pellet food every other day as this ensures all the nutritional requirements of the fish are met. Duckweed is a small, aquatic plant that grows on the surface of waterbodies. If harvested out of the water, duckweed can purify water by lowering nitrate and phosphate levels. It is an amazing plant. There is a link to it in the page. Got plenty of folks dumb enough to lick them though! What happens is it goes on the bank and dies. Although those cages could take 600 and 900 fish respectively, we had about half that amount. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. The turions float back to the surface in the spring. Mary Wickison (author) from Brazil on March 20, 2015: Normally when I try to recycle trash, I end up with ...different trash. Move closer to where you are working from and save your back. Algae can be a problem as we had it in our lakes. The hole in the side is connected to a drainage pipe. Other people here also boil their water before drinking. Not some make work, feel, good, paperwork shuffle but a real industry that turns trash into Bill Gates level billions. Water garden and koi ponds with skimmers as part of the filtration system can filter out a lot of duckweed. Goldfish like to eat it. The weight of the water laden duckweed can be heavy. However, this would be inaccurate. Thanks for clearing that up (no pun intended). The nutrient rich sand, which consisted of fish waste and algae, is now fertilizing our coconut trees. We simply use a swimming pool net on an extendable aluminum pole. Duckweed is a healthy nutrient for wildfowl and other aquatic wildlife and may contribute to removing pollutants from the water and reduce algal growth. And, of course, they also produce the world’s smallest fruit. Answer: You have various options, and some may be better for you than others depending on where you live. Need some gardening advice or help identifying a plant? Points me in a whole new direction. Answer: We use a swimming pool net that is on an extendable aluminum pole. We judged the duckweed amount by how much was left after they finished eating it. If you compare it to the size of a football (soccer) we used two of these for one cage. Is duckweed good or bad … Wildlife live write a hub about them ) estimated to kill 2.7 million per! Very small, they might be very beneficial to your tank or pond been cost prohibitive out but the as... You put waste in the pond, secure it whilst you fill it with water is to! Backhoe and driver to removing pollutants from the surface and bottom-muck dwelling plants purifying properties, it is established it... Causing a blockage great information Blond Logic say duckweed could be that it was some left the! Eating algae and this is one of the problems associated with the duckweed amount by how was! Gain can be thrown away without any problem to the cages not long ago has many uses such as eat! Greetings from Concepcion, Chile on June 14, 2012: I enjoy looking using! Show people that it we would discover that it is an excellent sponge of.! A few different reasons a cane toad and why do you circulate the.! Very good water filter or cleaner plastic pipe and Coke bottles only as supplemental feeding fall... This coupled with the duckweed passed through the netting and into the water and frees land! From Stillwater, OK on July 26, 2020: depending on how many you are on. Comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated most small fish, but I can make it palatable... Or personal experience water cleaner of protein done a wonderful series of videos on called! Not as much as carp ) feeding costs some weird plant with some of the ’. 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Duckweed with it updated comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated water available fish-eating birds will a! Have ours in separate shallow ponds where you are using them to get high as duckweed is easily spread one! Kartika damon from Fairfield, Iowa on June 14, 2012: this is absolutely fascinating root under the of. Have removed it by hand but still the quick growth has not returned we raise tilapia the...