Duck weed

[roitelet]

The wildlife pond has been established for about 10 years and is feed with rain water from the roof. Last summer I noticed the small green floating weed which I know as Duck weed in it. There are no new plants in it so I don't think that I have imported it.

Is there anything I can do to prevent the entire surface from becoming covered with it this year? I have already noticed some in there when I was clearing dead leaves.

Thanks

[WendyC]

Skim it out with a net and keep at it. Depends of course of the size of the pond and whether this would be feasible.

[Capsid]

There is a benefit in that it will help keep the pond clear of algae.

[roitelet]

Thanks folks, perhaps I will just skim to keep it under control.

[Bren In Pots]

Its nearly impossible to get rid of pondweed it doubles in volume every couple of days. We used to skim it then leave it in piles so the insects could get back into the pond the next day the weed was added to the compost bin.

[rustylady]

Duckweed does have the benefit of shading the water and slowing the development of algae. Do you have any fish in the pond?

[Verinda]

I have three wildlife ponds, and all three have duckweed, its so hard to control. If I skim it off I end up spending ages trying to rescue all the pondlife thats caught up in it, I leave it close to the pond but I'm not sure the pondlife is able to get back in the water, and its disheartening because even after all that effort it grows back so fast. I wish there was an easy solution to duckweed!