On 6/3/09 19:05, in article
, "Judith in
France" wrote:

On Mar 6, 5:26*pm, Sacha wrote:
Any chance that frogs and/or tadpoles eat duckweed?!
--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Straw will clear it. Don't know about Frogs though.

Judith


It's quite a large pond and barley straw hasn't helped in the past - or not
enough, anyway. I suppose we could try dragging some clumps of it across
the pond.....

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 6/3/09 19:05, in article
, "Judith
in
France" wrote:

On Mar 6, 5:26 pm, Sacha wrote:
Any chance that frogs and/or tadpoles eat duckweed?!
--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Straw will clear it. Don't know about Frogs though.

Judith


It's quite a large pond and barley straw hasn't helped in the past - or
not
enough, anyway. I suppose we could try dragging some clumps of it across
the pond.....

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Are we confusing duckweed Lemna minor with algal blooms and filamentous
algae which barley straw does control.
We had huge problems on the shoot with a pond being covered with a thick
carpet of duckweed and despite a serious effort to remove it during which
we scooped off around 60-80 kilos a week over a month or more it came back
within days.
This year 2008 it had all but disappeared the only difference being the
introduction of proper pondweed the previous year which has finally taken
hold and colonised the margins it could be the heavy rain or the weed
reducing the nutrient level or even overspray when our farmer applied
herbicide (unlikely he's extremely careful about when he sprays and the pond
is about 30 yds from the nearest cultivated area) We do get a lot of duck
but in the covered years they didn't make an impression on the carpet and
they positively avoided the pond we have few frogs ( heron activity) and no
fish.
Common Koi and Grass Carp do eat duckweed and I did a little research and
found freshwater shrimp also do .
One other suggestion about the sudden reduction in duckweed under windy
conditions when the water gets a little ripple the weed stacks up in layers
at the windward end a good time to scoop a pile out!
DerekW

The message
from "DerekW" contains these
words:

Are we confusing duckweed Lemna minor with algal blooms and filamentous
algae which barley straw does control.

I take it that's a question? I would guess that the OP would know the
difference.

We had huge problems on the shoot with a pond being covered with a thick
carpet of duckweed and despite a serious effort to remove it during which
we scooped off around 60-80 kilos a week over a month or more it came back
within days.

Arable land nearby? That growth could be due to fertilisers leaching
into the pond.

This year 2008 it had all but disappeared the only difference being the
introduction of proper pondweed the previous year which has finally taken
hold and colonised the margins it could be the heavy rain or the weed
reducing the nutrient level or even overspray when our farmer applied
herbicide (unlikely he's extremely careful about when he sprays and
the pond
is about 30 yds from the nearest cultivated area) We do get a lot of duck
but in the covered years they didn't make an impression on the carpet and
they positively avoided the pond we have few frogs ( heron activity) and no
fish.

I'm told - but haven't tried it - that duckweed is very nutritious and
makes good a soup ingredient. The odd water snail amongst it should
provide a little body...

Common Koi and Grass Carp do eat duckweed and I did a little
research and
found freshwater shrimp also do .

The shrimp will eat anything, but you'd need a lot of them.

I'll ask the local head keeper about the condition of his flight ponds.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

"Rusty_Hinge" wrote in message
. uk...
The message
from "DerekW" contains these
words:

Are we confusing duckweed Lemna minor with algal blooms and
filamentous
algae which barley straw does control.

I take it that's a question? I would guess that the OP would know the
difference.

hopefully so but I have heard FA (aka blanket weed and many more) described
as duckweed on many occasions ( by countrymen as well)


We had huge problems on the shoot with a pond being covered with a thick
carpet of duckweed and despite a serious effort to remove it during
which
we scooped off around 60-80 kilos a week over a month or more it came
back
within days.

Arable land nearby? That growth could be due to fertilisers leaching
into the pond.

absolutely right however the farmer is using a low input rotation which I
found amazing, the new wheat and barley varieties have such varied nutrient
requirements he needs to do virtually no addition of inorganics, by careful
selection he can get three grain crops then at the end of the rotation
he'll
drill fodder beans to boost the nitrogen levels and make a small dusting to
add what is lacking and use dry sewage mulch or manure .

This year 2008 it had all but disappeared the only difference being the
introduction of proper pondweed the previous year which has finally
taken
hold and colonised the margins it could be the heavy rain or the weed
reducing the nutrient level or even overspray when our farmer applied
herbicide (unlikely he's extremely careful about when he sprays and
the pond
is about 30 yds from the nearest cultivated area) We do get a lot of duck
but in the covered years they didn't make an impression on the carpet and
they positively avoided the pond we have few frogs ( heron activity) and
no
fish.

I'm told - but haven't tried it - that duckweed is very nutritious and
makes good a soup ingredient. The odd water snail amongst it should
provide a little body...

LOL I'll dry some up and send you a packet of 'cup o weed'
I don't remember Hugh Furry W trying that one and that lad will eat owt

Common Koi and Grass Carp do eat duckweed and I did a little
research and
found freshwater shrimp also do .

The shrimp will eat anything, but you'd need a lot of them.

More the merrier ready for introducing fish the invertebrate levels are
quite good I wouldn't mind adding in mayfly
but as the PH is very low( Mossland) I doubt they would thrive

I'll ask the local head keeper about the condition of his flight ponds
..
bit early in the year for any problems with duckweed our theory was that as
there was no exposed water the ducks were not picking up any reflection when
flighting by at dusk.This no longer the case of course I walked off 4 pair
of Mallard this morning so things look good. Another pond (old marl pit ) in
a depression about 200 yds away which always gets a light amount of the weed
still attracted duck mainly Teal.

DerekW

The message
from "DerekW" contains these
words:
"Rusty_Hinge" wrote in message
. uk...
The message
from "DerekW" contains these
words:

Are we confusing duckweed Lemna minor with algal blooms and
filamentous
algae which barley straw does control.

I take it that's a question? I would guess that the OP would know the
difference.

hopefully so but I have heard FA (aka blanket weed and many more) described
as duckweed on many occasions ( by countrymen as well)

It always pains me when someone who has had every opportunity to know
something about the countryside has so little grasp of things - then I
think, some people are just not interested in certain subjects - and we
can't all be experts on everything.

I used to spend more or less every free minute outside up to my armpits
in Nature as far back as I can remember. Nowadays parents etc would be
going spare - aged six, I'd be in the fields opposite, usually having
soaked-up the best part of the nearest pond...

We had huge problems on the shoot with a pond being covered with a thick
carpet of duckweed and despite a serious effort to remove it during
which
we scooped off around 60-80 kilos a week over a month or more it came
back
within days.

Arable land nearby? That growth could be due to fertilisers leaching
into the pond.

absolutely right however the farmer is using a low input rotation which I
found amazing, the new wheat and barley varieties have such varied nutrient
requirements he needs to do virtually no addition of inorganics, by careful
selection he can get three grain crops then at the end of the rotation
he'll
drill fodder beans to boost the nitrogen levels and make a small dusting to
add what is lacking and use dry sewage mulch or manure .

Right opposite me the fields seem to rotate around wheat, sugar beet,
fodder beans and barley. My crops from there tend to be rabbits, wood
pigeons and the occasional squirrel. I've been eyeing the rookery too,
but last year they were culled right back, so I shall leave them alone.

This year 2008 it had all but disappeared the only difference being the
introduction of proper pondweed the previous year which has finally
taken
hold and colonised the margins it could be the heavy rain or the weed
reducing the nutrient level or even overspray when our farmer applied
herbicide (unlikely he's extremely careful about when he sprays and
the pond
is about 30 yds from the nearest cultivated area) We do get a lot of duck
but in the covered years they didn't make an impression on the carpet and
they positively avoided the pond we have few frogs ( heron activity) and
no
fish.

I'm told - but haven't tried it - that duckweed is very nutritious and
makes good a soup ingredient. The odd water snail amongst it should
provide a little body...

LOL I'll dry some up and send you a packet of 'cup o weed'
I don't remember Hugh Furry W trying that one and that lad will eat owt

So I hear, but not having a haunted fishtank, I couldn't possibly
comment. You might be surprised at some of the things that go on my
plate - try http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/fungi/dinner4a.jpg
(About 25 KB - there's a better pic in the same directory - dinner4.jpg
- about 175 KB) I 'weed' the farmer's beet and/or beans and come away
with fat hen and various oraches, and black nightshade berries (from
which I make a sort-of blueberry pie filling - nightshade pie, anyone?)

Common Koi and Grass Carp do eat duckweed and I did a little
research and
found freshwater shrimp also do .

The shrimp will eat anything, but you'd need a lot of them.

More the merrier ready for introducing fish the invertebrate levels are
quite good I wouldn't mind adding in mayfly
but as the PH is very low( Mossland) I doubt they would thrive

Don't they prefer running water?

If you have bog myrtle amongst the moss, it makes a very good green tea
- only don't use too much - much less of it than you would use
tealeaves. It's supposed to be good for the nerves.

I'll ask the local head keeper about the condition of his flight ponds
..
bit early in the year for any problems with duckweed our theory was
that as
there was no exposed water the ducks were not picking up any
reflection when
flighting by at dusk.This no longer the case of course I walked off 4 pair
of Mallard this morning so things look good. Another pond (old marl
pit ) in
a depression about 200 yds away which always gets a light amount of
the weed
still attracted duck mainly Teal.

We only seem to have mallard here. The odd skein of geese passes over,
but I've never known them to visit. The Guns get terribly excited about
the duck, but not very many of them have clue. In my youth I used to go
wildfowling on the Blackwater Estuary, though more time was spent in
conservation of nesting areas than with the artillery. (9-Bore Joe
Manton SB percussion)

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

"Rusty_Hinge" wrote in message

into the pond.

Right opposite me the fields seem to rotate around wheat, sugar beet,
fodder beans and barley. My crops from there tend to be rabbits, wood
pigeons and the occasional squirrel. I've been eyeing the rookery too,
but last year they were culled right back, so I shall leave them alone.

We should be seeing the first problems with the woodies anytime, after
the horrendous weather the rst of the fields dried enough to be ploughed
and drilled so wheat sprouts are likely to be high on the diet list for the
woodies and woody pie on mine!

.. You might be surprised at some of the things that go on my
plate - try http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/fungi/dinner4a.jpg
(About 25 KB - there's a better pic in the same directory - dinner4.jpg
- about 175 KB) I 'weed' the farmer's beet and/or beans and come away
with fat hen and various oraches, and black nightshade berries (from
which I make a sort-of blueberry pie filling - nightshade pie, anyone?)

Got to say I'm impressed I get a few puffballs and field shrooms on the
plate
but thats a veritable smorgasbord we had a lot of birch blown down a
combination
of the moss being sodden and gales and I have a pack of shittake spawn and a
drill
so we stand a chance of a crop come autumn

Common Koi and Grass Carp do eat duckweed and I did a little
research and
found freshwater shrimp also do .

The shrimp will eat anything, but you'd need a lot of them.

More the merrier ready for introducing fish the invertebrate levels are
quite good I wouldn't mind adding in mayfly
but as the PH is very low( Mossland) I doubt they would thrive

Don't they prefer running water?
Yep they grow in high densities on running but they do thrive in spring
fed ponds as well, always found a goodly number in blanket weed
along with boatmen froglets fish fry and nymphs


If you have bog myrtle amongst the moss, it makes a very good green tea
- only don't use too much - much less of it than you would use
tealeaves. It's supposed to be good for the nerves.

I 'll have to have a look see I could do with calming down a touch.

We only seem to have mallard here. The odd skein of geese passes over,
but I've never known them to visit. The Guns get terribly excited about
the duck, but not very many of them have clue. In my youth I used to go
wildfowling on the Blackwater Estuary, though more time was spent in
conservation of nesting areas than with the artillery. (9-Bore Joe
Manton SB percussion)

Cristamighty I hope you had a tin hat to go with a cannon like that
I'll stick with my trusty Beretta 302 12 b more than enough lead
(er I mean non-toxic shot occifer) for me I've had the priviledge
of letting off a few bigger bore blackpowder pieces at gamefairs
and the like, happily the hair has now grown back
DerekW

The message
from "DerekW" contains these
words:

We only seem to have mallard here. The odd skein of geese passes over,
but I've never known them to visit. The Guns get terribly excited about
the duck, but not very many of them have clue. In my youth I used to go
wildfowling on the Blackwater Estuary, though more time was spent in
conservation of nesting areas than with the artillery. (9-Bore Joe
Manton SB percussion)

Cristamighty I hope you had a tin hat to go with a cannon like that

Nope. And as it's difficult to measure a 9-bore load, and it was a good
stout gun, I stoked it with 8-bore loads.

I'll stick with my trusty Beretta 302 12 b more than enough lead
(er I mean non-toxic shot occifer) for me

It seems that the 'evidence' that wildfowl pick up lead pellets was
falsified. The legislation wasn't rescinded, though.

I've had the priviledge
of letting off a few bigger bore blackpowder pieces at gamefairs
and the like, happily the hair has now grown back

Got a percussion 10-bore now, and a flintlock 4-bore under restoration,
as well as a pile of old percussion bits and pieces of more or less
complete lumps - many in need of fettling. There are enough bits to mate
a 20-bore percussion deer rifle barrel and a stock which has a woodcock
barrel on it ATM. With a suitable box, it should be a pleasant little
item.

The Joe Manton caused a bit of a stir at the 1962(?) CLA Game Fair at
Longleat, smoking Single Birds Down the Line...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

On 6/3/09 23:47, in article , "DerekW"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 6/3/09 19:05, in article
, "Judith
in
France" wrote:

On Mar 6, 5:26 pm, Sacha wrote:
Any chance that frogs and/or tadpoles eat duckweed?!
--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Straw will clear it. Don't know about Frogs though.

Judith


It's quite a large pond and barley straw hasn't helped in the past - or
not
enough, anyway. I suppose we could try dragging some clumps of it across
the pond.....

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Are we confusing duckweed Lemna minor with algal blooms and filamentous
algae which barley straw does control.

No, what we have is duck weed. And it's worst on the pond we don't want to
put fish into!

We had huge problems on the shoot with a pond being covered with a thick
carpet of duckweed and despite a serious effort to remove it during which
we scooped off around 60-80 kilos a week over a month or more it came back
within days.
This year 2008 it had all but disappeared the only difference being the
introduction of proper pondweed the previous year which has finally taken
hold and colonised the margins it could be the heavy rain or the weed
reducing the nutrient level or even overspray when our farmer applied
herbicide (unlikely he's extremely careful about when he sprays and the pond
is about 30 yds from the nearest cultivated area) We do get a lot of duck
but in the covered years they didn't make an impression on the carpet and
they positively avoided the pond we have few frogs ( heron activity) and no
fish.
Common Koi and Grass Carp do eat duckweed and I did a little research and
found freshwater shrimp also do .
One other suggestion about the sudden reduction in duckweed under windy
conditions when the water gets a little ripple the weed stacks up in layers
at the windward end a good time to scoop a pile out!
DerekW

Absolutely right. Last time we had a gale that blew the duckweed in the
right direction, I noticed it as I came in through the gate in my car -
though "must go and scoop that off" and promptly got diverted so never got
round to it. I'm waiting for the wind to be in the right direction because
it had it all arranged in a neat little pile for me!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

On 7/3/09 11:37, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:29:51 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 6/3/09 23:47, in article , "DerekW"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 6/3/09 19:05, in article
, "Judith
in
France" wrote:

On Mar 6, 5:26 pm, Sacha wrote:
Any chance that frogs and/or tadpoles eat duckweed?!
--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Straw will clear it. Don't know about Frogs though.

Judith


It's quite a large pond and barley straw hasn't helped in the past - or
not
enough, anyway. I suppose we could try dragging some clumps of it across
the pond.....

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

Are we confusing duckweed Lemna minor with algal blooms and filamentous
algae which barley straw does control.

No, what we have is duck weed. And it's worst on the pond we don't want to
put fish into!

How about using a vacuum cleaner made for cleaning swimming pools

It would clog up in seconds and take the small but desirable things with it,
like frogspawn, newts, dragonfly larvae etc!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

The message
from Martin contains these words:

I read on Internet that the only way to get rid of it is to empty your
pond and
scrub everything with bleach including the pump. If you miss just one bit of
duck weed you have wasted your time.

You read it on the Internet?

It *MUST* be true...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Martin contains these words:
On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 20:31:54 GMT, Rusty_Hinge

wrote:
The message
from Martin contains these words:

I read on Internet that the only way to get rid of it is to empty your
pond and
scrub everything with bleach including the pump. If you miss just
one bit of
duck weed you have wasted your time.

You read it on the Internet?

It *MUST* be true...


Have you a better idea or a reason why it wouldn't work?

(Your sig-separator's borked - this time - two trailing spaces...

Probably, it would work, but duckweed is not too difficult to keep in
check just by raking it off the surface.

Bleach in your pond paraphernalia will kill a hell of a lot more than
duckweed - and it's not certain that it will kill all the duckweed,
anyway, unless you really go over the top with it.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

On 7/3/09 23:41, in article ,
"Rusty_Hinge" wrote:

snip

Bleach in your pond paraphernalia will kill a hell of a lot more than
duckweed - and it's not certain that it will kill all the duckweed,
anyway, unless you really go over the top with it.

I certainly can't use bleach because of all the other 'stuff' living in the
pond, including some desirable plants.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials online

"Martin" wrote
How about using a vacuum cleaner made for cleaning swimming pools

My .75hp one I use to clean my pond needs priming and if it sucks in air, as
it would to remove Duckweed on the surface, it stops sucking and would need
repriming again.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:
"Martin" wrote
How about using a vacuum cleaner made for cleaning swimming pools

My .75hp one I use to clean my pond needs priming and if it sucks in
air, as
it would to remove Duckweed on the surface, it stops sucking and would need
repriming again.

A Vax would do it with no trouble - other than emptying it every fifteen
seconds.

--
Rusty
Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters.
(Alice Thomas Ellis)

The message
from Martin contains these words:
On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 14:48:24 GMT, Rusty Hinge
wrote:
The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:
"Martin" wrote
How about using a vacuum cleaner made for cleaning swimming pools

My .75hp one I use to clean my pond needs priming and if it sucks in
air, as
it would to remove Duckweed on the surface, it stops sucking and
would need
repriming again.

A Vax would do it with no trouble - other than emptying it every fifteen
seconds.

and replacing it under guarantee ever hour.

Why? It's designed for slurping as well as dusting, you know.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk