Duckweed update...and a hummingbird
Well, I didn't expect the duckweed to be gone in one season, and I
sure haven't been disappointed. In fact, I've never seen the duckweed looking so healthy. To those of you who may have tuned in late I threw an air stone (attached to an air pump) in the middle of my duckweed covered pond, thinking that the (minor) waves set up by it would eventually prove detrimental to the duckweed. By late last year it had cleared a "circle" about 20 feet in diameter, but now it looks like only about 15 feet or so. I'm often asked if there are fish in the pond, and there *were*, I saw some of them. But recently there don't seem to be any. Grass carp (especially) might help control the duckweed. To summarize, I looked into triploid (sterile) grass carp, and not only do I have to get a permit for them, I have to take measures that they don't escape into any other waters. Being as how I'm only about two miles from the Suwannee River and the springs that make my pond eventually flow into it, that kind of leaves me out. Well, they don't flow into it directly, at least not above ground. The overflow from the pond forms a tiny stream, which joins another stream, which joins another, which then vanishes underground only to resurface as a spring along the Suwannee. I am a (dry) cave explorer, and have friends who actually put on SCUBA gear and dive in underwater caves. As such, I am extremely reluctant to put any sort of chemical in the water to control the duckweed, no matter how safe the manufacturer claims it is. Anyway, my brother keeps telling me that the duckweed is the sign of a healthy pond, so I'm not really worried. So I've pretty much moved to the shed at the back pond. Now the "shed" has sliding glass doors and an air conditioner and a few other things that make it a kind of a "luxury shed." One day I'm parked in front of one of the doors staring out at the pond through a pair of binoculars looking at turtle heads poking up through the duckweed when this blur appears out of focus in the binoculars. I put them down and there is this hummingbird not a foot away staring at me. It wasn't just a one time thing either, the hummingbird have been coming around for about two weeks now, first hovering and looking in through one door, then flying around to look in the other. It's a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds, the female coming by much more frequently than the male. .. |
Duckweed update...and a hummingbird
Let's face it, you are just a fascinating human creature.
I go with the healthy pond explanation. kathy :-) |
Duckweed update...and a hummingbird
On Sun, 9 May 2010 09:56:19 EDT, Galen Hekhuis
wrote: So I've pretty much moved to the shed at the back pond. Now the "shed" has sliding glass doors and an air conditioner and a few other things that make it a kind of a "luxury shed." One day I'm parked in front of one of the doors staring out at the pond through a pair of binoculars looking at turtle heads poking up through the duckweed when this blur appears out of focus in the binoculars. I put them down and there is this hummingbird not a foot away staring at me. It wasn't just a one time thing either, the hummingbird have been coming around for about two weeks now, first hovering and looking in through one door, then flying around to look in the other. It's a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds, the female coming by much more frequently than the male. . To them, you're a fish in a glass aquarium. ;-) Btw, I had some nice duck weed growing in my small living room pond. I ordered 3 Tropical lilies and got them potted after I put the taro out. The pads were getting aphids that over wintered with the taro, so I did what I had heard worked, but never recommended if done where the sun hit. Inside no worries there, I sprayed the pads and duck weed with Pam (cooking oil). The pads did fine, the duckweed... every bit of it died. The aphids? If the Pam didn't do them in, they've starved to death. ~ jan ------------ Zone 7a, SE Washington State Ponds: www.jjspond.us |
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