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918-691-2162 or Glenn@DoughtyWatergarden.com

Hail The Lowly Duckweed

As far as plants go, single celled algae (green water) is the bottom of the food chain. Then comes string algae or blanket algae. This is nature’s very best water cleaning plant. It takes in more nutrients and collects more muck than any other plant.

Now for duckweed---the smallest, simplest, flowering, fruiting and seed bearing plant. It has 1 to 3 floating leaves and a single, dangling root and is less than ¼ the size of your pinky nail. This beneficial plant gobbles up nutrients from the water and shades out the lowly algae but left unchecked it can cause oxygen depletion and fish kills on a very large scale. The good thing is

that KOI and goldfish love to eat it. If grown in a separate pond or pot it provides a renewable source of nutritious food all summer. The plant count can double every two days.

Duckweed is not affected by pollution so is good to clean up sewage water and industrial toxins from the water. It is one of the few plants that can tolerate very salty water.

As cold weather draws near the resourceful Duckweed produces enough starches to cause it to sink to the bottom where it lives off the starches until spring when it collects enough oxygen to cause it to float once again to the top for another season.

Named Duckweed because it is the primary food for newly hatched ducklings but it has been farmed for centuries for livestock feed.

“Pass the duckweed”

You will find that duckweed is very tasty when lightly sprinkled with vinegar and oil with a little salt and lemon pepper or lightly sautéed with a few fresh bamboo shoots and tiny shrimp.

Feel free to e-mail any questions. Remember advice is always free!

Glenn