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Would anybody like some duckweed? Duckweed is growing and threatening to overtake my pond! It has almost doubled since yesterday. I guess it likes all the fresh water. I have been here 4 years and this is the first time I have seen duckweed grow like this in the pond. I have fed some to my africans and they love it. Plus there is the bonus of all kinds of critters living in the duckweed. Due to all of the rain, the area is flooded. Water flows into the pond and then the into the swamp and then into the bayou. You can see the bayou in one of the pics. I went there last night in the dark and shined a flashlight into the swamp and there were lots of little green eyes shining back at me. Pretty cool! Here are a few pics of my over watered playground. If anybody wants duckweed come and get it! Just PM me and bring buckets.
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Any fauna stocked in there Ken?
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
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Now I know why there's lot of mosquito in your area. LOL010G Long fin BN grow-out
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That pond is teeming with wildlife. Salt and fresh water critters.Originally posted by Austy16414 View PostComment
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Actually no mosquito problem. All this water is packed with fish who eat the larvae so very few skeetersOriginally posted by ptran View PostComment
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AustyOriginally posted by Austy16414 View Post
I will give you a more complete answer now. The pond has never been artificially stocked. But I have caught the following fish in there. White crappie, black crappie, bluegill, small mouth bass, warmouth, gambusia, mollies, crawfish, blue crab, shad, mullet, lady fish, channel cat, bullhead cat, lots of bullhead right now. The pond runs off into the bayou which is brackish water, but when the bayou rises, it will back up into the pond so this gives the pond a mixture of salt and freshwater animals. There are probably other creatures I have not discovered yet. Land animals I have seen include racoons, swamp rabbits, nutria, possum, water mocassins, water snakes, chicken snakes, grass snakes. It is wild kingdom in my back yard!Comment
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Wow, that is quite the list! You've got your own nature reserve going there
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
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Impressive list!!!010G Long fin BN grow-out
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So we will be having the next GHAC native collection trip in your back yard?Nothing Kills Evil Like a Sharp Stick...Comment
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Cool. Looking forward to it.010G Long fin BN grow-out
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I am not a member So it would be up to the club.Nothing Kills Evil Like a Sharp Stick...Comment
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I am not sure how this works myself but if the people in charge of native collecting are interested they can use my property for a collecting trip. Maybe it would be included as one of several sites because this area is chock full of great places to explore. It might also be fun to make it the last stop and I could have barbecue or a fish fry for everyone.Originally posted by troy tucker View Post
My pond is now about 60% covered in duckweed! I also included a pic of a critter I forgot about. The picture is not good but it was the only one I had a chance to get before he ran for cover. It is an armadillo. We see all the time small holes in the ground from the armadillos digging for insects.
So my offer is still valid but I am dropping the price to free! Wait a minute! It was already FREE!!!!!! So DUCKWEED FOR FREE! COME AND GET IT!!!!!!!
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The duckweed has completely covered the pond! I did some research today and understand why this has happened. Duckweed grows in a nutrient rich environment, specifically water rich in nitrogen and phosphates. The water draining into this pond runs across a property with farm animals. There is the source of nitrogen and phosphates. This first picture is of the pond completely covered with duckweed. I got in my little boat with a net and started scooping up duckweed to see if I could possibly remove enough to make a difference. I scooped duckweed for 30 minutes and you can see the amount I pulled out of the pond. I cleared maybe 15% of the surface but the duckweed seemed to appreciate the elbow room and started closing back in. I bet it will be completely covered tomorrow morning.
So here is one lesson that might help someone else. If you have a pond and you see duckweed growing, don't look at it and think that is cool. Duckweed is nice stuff! Immediately remove all of the duckweed if possible or as much as possible. Duckweed can double in number in 36 hours so remove as much as you can and that can prevent it from covering your pond. There are other things you can do because this is not a one dimensional problem. You have the problem of too much nutrient in the water and the duckweed is actually helping with that problem! If you remove the duckweed you will probably get an algal bloom because you still have too much nitrogen and phosphates and now the sunlight can reach into the water. This is what can happen when you add something such as nutrients into a balanced system. Nature tries to restore the balance.
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