HOW TO GET RID OF DUCKWEED IN YOUR POND

Home » Home and Family » Gardening Join Sign in EzineArticles - Expert Authors Sharing Their Best Original Articles Custom Search Search Peter Van Smith Basic PLUS Author | 40 Articles Joined: March 1, 2015 United States How to Deal With Duckweed in Your Pond By Peter Van Smith | Submitted On October 23, 2017 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Duckweed or Lemna minor is a really small, free-floating plant with three 0.06" - 0.125" long leaves known as fronds and one hair-like root. They make slow-moving or stagnant water as their habitat. Their rapid propagation attribute results in mass coverage of the pond. If their ideal conditions are provided, they can grow exponentially in just a few days. Therefore, this is a menace that needs to be managed. So before finding its ways for prevention, one needs to understand the cause of its growth. Introduction of Duckweed in a Pond The introduction of duckweed is unknown to the human eye. The large ponds and small man-made lakes are most hit with the duckweed. Since the water is relatively stagnant in both of them, it takes hold and becomes quite difficult to get rid of it. The visiting waterfowl leave behind because duckweed sticks on their feathers and feet. The presence of excessive nutrients and sunlight are the other two major causes behind the notorious duckweed growth. While penetration of sunlight can be controlled to a certain degree, what one can essentially do is limit the nutrient level in the pond. Control & Prevention of Duckweed Duckweed elimination can be done using aquatic herbicides in the right proportion. But, this shouldn't be your first step. As a preliminary step, you should always go for a manual removal. You may use a pond skimmer or a pond net and skim out as many weeds as you can. If possible, do this activity on a windy day because the plants (that you want in your pond) will compress on one side and you will be able to remove a lot. Once you have done this part, it's time to take the next step so as to prevent its future growth - 1. Installation of a fountain As already mentioned above, the reason behind its growth is the stagnant water and to curb this menace, install a simple fountain. There are primarily two benefits of having one in your garden pond - A. Agitates the water surface: The fountain interrupts the water stagnancy and makes it difficult for the weed to spread and survive. B. Water oxygenation: In a pond, there are two types of algae - aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic is a healthy alga and one of its main tasks is to remove the excess nutrients from the water - the food on which duckweed thrives. 2. Installation of Bubble Aerator A bubble aerator is good for eliminating duckweed infestations and keeping the pond healthy. It provides both surface agitation and deep aeration in a large lake or water body. So if your pond sees a lot of commercial or agricultural runoff, the healthy algae produced by bubble aerator will fight back. 3. Add Koi or Grass carp to the Pond One of the highly recommended solutions for duckweed control are the addition of these aquatic grazers. They love duckweed and will consume it as their main source of food. 4. Chemical elimination Fluridone is a very effective long term solution. Hence, prevention and control of duckweed is not possible with just a single method alone. You need to use the aforementioned solutions in conjunction to see effective results. Thus, these control measures will prevent your pond from turning into a green one. The first step for Duckweed removal should always be manual. But to prevent future growth, you need to use effective long term solutions like Fluridone. At killlakeweeds, we offer a full line of lake weed killer and lake weed removal tools. 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