[Hortic]

Hi All. I have a lovely well established pond. This year, with the heat we had earlier, the duckweed has gotten completely out of control. I'm spending time on my knees carefully lifting it out, checking for beasties then chucking it in a bucket for disposal. The single fronds are scooped up with a tea strainer. It all works but takes a lot of time away from the rest of my plot, plus isn't doing the circulation in my legs any good. The tadpoles and larvae are very appreciative of the cleared areas.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of duckweed? Is there a pond herbicide that anyone has used?

[jezza]

Hello I use to work in a garden that had a duck weed problem ,we set a filtration system up using a small empty lemonade bottle,this was fastened to the end of the pump pipe a hole an inch diameter was cut in the side towards the bottom of the bottle the bottle floated we found it dwew enough water in and duck weed for the pump to cope with it the pump out flow was set so that it kept the water circulating past the hole in the bottle,the duck weed couldnt get out and ended up in the filtration tank  which was then cleaned out weekly or when the water stopped flowing ,theres also the duck method encourage a duck to eat it,if you can get Algon path cleaner that can be used to clear blanket weed but before using it contact the manufacturer with the pond dimensions for the exact amount to use ,as for an herbicide you need a licence to use it on water Round up Bi aqua is the one you need PA1  chemical handling PA6 knapsack sprayer and a water spray licence when I applied for the course the it was £495+vat +the water certificate at £475+vat the mixing rate for  Roundup Bi Aqua is 1 litre of round up to 1 million litres of water that has to be brought down to the pond size you have,you also have to check if theres any outlets into a water course eg ditch or river    jezza

[Subversive_plot]

Goldfish eat it, are goldfish an option in your pond?

[mrs bouquet]

Try twisting it around a bamboo /broom pole.  It is quicker than hands and no bending involved.     Mrs Bouquet

[Hortic]

Thanks everybody.

It's Roundup Bi Active, not aqua. I'll need to further research this, and thank you for the information.

The water bottle filter sounds good but I have no idea how to construct it from the description. Any more information or a diagram?

The broom handle is a tryer. I have a lot of milfoil to remove come the autumn, it's really gone nuts with the early heat and is clogging the pond  and that will complicate the broom handle but I will give it a go. The duckweed that catches at the rocks at the pond edges is an irritation as that breaks up and spreads.

And no, there's no fish as I value my newts and frogs. The d***m ducks brought the duck weed in originally and I try very hard to keep them away. Ducks trash and pollute a pond.

Thanks for your help.