Duckweed is a very small floating plant. It consists of a single leaf with a single root attached. It spends its life floating in ponds that are rich in nutrients. It multiplies like crazy and if left alone, can grow to two or three inches deep. At least that is how deep we have found in on our small pond.
In past years, we have spent many hours removing this nuisance weed. Howard sets up a pump with and intake hose and a discharge hose. Someone mans the intake hose in pond and keeps duckweed being sucked into it. The discharge hose is laid high on the bank. The water and duckweed shoots out of it. The grass traps the duckweed and most of the water runs back into the pond. We call this process "vacuuming the pond." I jokingly say, "It is really bad when you spend more time vacuuming your pond than you do your house." But in the growing season that is what happens.
This year we are going to try controlling the duckweed with chemicals. We purchase Sonar AS last year, but conditions were never right for putting it in the pond. We spent several hours on Monday, April 7 and Tuesday, April 8 pumping duckweed out of the pond. We removed several hundred pounds of the stuff. We at least have reduced it to a thin layer across the surface of the pond. Wednesday, April 9, Howard measured the pond to be sure that we used an accurate amount of Sonar to control the duckweed. Right now the pond is approximately 42' X 150' and averages a depth of 3'. It only took 5 oz. of the Sonar.
Howard dispensed the Sonar. Now we just have to wait for it to do its work. It can take up to 30 days to kill the duckweed. We will see if it was worth the $200 investment for a pint of the chemical.
Sharon
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