Duckweed question

Legacy_user

We have two ponds each containing many frogs. One of the ponds is covered with duckweed and frogs sit with their head protruding. We've seen frogs leave the pond and hop to the other pond and have now transported this duckweed to the other pond.

My question is, is duckweed something we should get rid of?, is it any use?, does it prevent light from getting below, or is it that it creates shade below? which is preferred.?

Artytarty

MMM, I dont think its harmful. It is part and parcel of a natural style of pond.
Personally I think it looks a bit too "natural"! I'd try and scoop out as much as I could periodically but you're never going to be rid of it altogether. I guess what i am saying is : I wouldnt let it take over.
I seem to spend my life twirling blanket weed round an old cane like candy floss these days. There isnt that much of it but I think I have become obsesssive!

Optimisticpair

Pond weeds make good compost!

System

OK that's fine. My wife seems to think that we should remove some, I suppose if we allowed 50% of the surface to be covered we wouldn't go too far wrong. As for the blanket weed, I use a 12" file from the £1 shop and twirl with that, taking care not to touch the fish. Speaking of which, I'm now highjacking my own thread. In our patio pond which is raised above ground and is about 30" across by 10" deep. we have three small goldfish 4" max, our daughter wants to give us her 6 tiny goldfish which are currently in a pond, would a pond our size be too small?. I am of the opinion that growth might be stumped, the reason being years ago when we had fish indoors in a bowl, we gave them to someone who put them in a large pond, they seemed to grow overnight.

Artytarty

I dont know much about fish, sorry, but I think your pond may be too small for 9 fish. It does stunt their growth and they need a certain amount of surface area per fish, but what it is I havent a clue!
I cant ave fish since we have 2 cats and hungry herrons around.

kings981

I have a duck weed problem. Sometimes I get keen and try to remove as much as I can, without distrubing too much pondlife. But by the next day it has all grown back, so now I have given up and hope something will come and eat it!!

Bumble_Bee_4

The duckweed doesn't cause any problems to the pond, and also its prolific growth hoovers up excess nitrates so prevents blanket weed. We scoop out the duckweed at intervals and compost it.

The main problem is that you lose that lovely reflection from a clear surface, and also once it gets so dense, cats think it's a solid surface and try to cross it when chasing birds/insects. It's quite funny when it starts to sink and its legs start to whirl - just like a cartoon - but not so funny if it damages the liner, so that's another good reason to stop it building up.

Actually our pond is so dense with hornwort below the surface and water crowfoot on top that birds land on it and can bathe without sinking. Probably time to heave out some more - again. I use an old sieve to scoop it out - what do other people use?