North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[fuwa fuwa usagi <fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com>]

Del wrote:

A couple weks ago I piled up a good stack of duckweed from our pond.  

My reply:

Hmmmm...

So...

Well...

It is like this...

Duckweed (Salvia) is a rather interesting plant.   It tells you a whole lot 
about a body of water and in "some" bodies of water it plays a critical 
management role.   

I guess what I am saying is I hope you have a big pond, and not one that was 
covered from shore to opposite shore by salvia, and in such an event that 
prudence dictated that you not remove a disproportionate amount of duckweed.

A few things a pond covered in duckweed benefits from.   Cooler water as the 
leaves reflect the sunlight, oxygen rich water as the salvia actually 
deposits oxygen into the water via the root, and an extra area of 
biodiversity via the habitat that the dangling roots provide. 

I have unfortunately seen several small ponds destroyed when eager new owners 
mistakenly skim off al the duckweed they see in order to tidy up the pond, 
what can follow is a dramatic rise in temperature, oxygen depletion, a sure 
fish kill and then a massive algae bloom created from the newly introduced 
sunlight and the rich water from all the decaying fish.

Just an FYI for those with small ponds.

The rabbit


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