Duckweed

Duckweed

Is Duckweed a curse or a useful plant?  It can be either, or both. I caution against risking getting any into waterways that do not have it in already; most rivers and lakes already have some. Duckweed is one of the plants that can grow at enormous rates. Azolla is another one, but some of their characteristics are quite different. For information about Azolla, see Azolla

In the summer, and if the nutrient content of the water is high, duckweed grows very quickly. It's a ‘flowering plant', but its flowers are very rarely seen. In practice, it only reproduces vegetatively by growing more plants off the side of the existing ones. In water without plenty of Nitrogen duckweed does not grow quickly. Duckweed contains between 20 and 50 percent crude protein expressed as a dry matter percentage so its Nitrogen requirements are high. Similarly, it is removing excess Nitrogen from the water. 

Often the rampant growth of duckweed is a sign that the water has too much Nitrogen and other nutrients. The Duckweed is being blamed, but the real culprits are people who are polluting the water .

Duckweed is a good food for many animals. Ducks eat it. Many types of fish do as well. In our aquariums for goldfish in summer the fish get through a surprising amount of duckweed. I feed them other things as well (I believe in giving my fish a good variety of food.) The goldfish seem to be very healthy with the amount of duckweed they eat.

I've observed larger tadpoles eating it, and smaller ones grazing the roots. No doubt they are also eating the microorganisms growing on the duckweed.

Duckweed in a pond can supply a very useful amount of food for the fish, as well as shading out some of the algae. You may not want the whole of your pond covered with duckweed. If it succeeds in growing too quickly for your fish to eat, you can take some out and use it in your compost or as mulch round your plants. If you have hens it's an excellent supplementary food for them.

Steve Challis