Common Duckweed (Lemna minor) in frogspawn in my old pond today
There’s no duckweed in my old pond – well, until I noticed some yesterday.
Nothing unusual here you might think. Duckweed colonises pond – it’s not exactly news.
But actually there was something unusual about this, as the picture above shows.
It’s associated with the frogspawn – just a few fronds (I counted about 10 altogether) dotted around in the big mat of spawn, and nowhere else.
Why just there? It certainly wasn’t in that part of the pond a few days ago, before the frogs came, or in any other part of the pond (I know: I’ve been watching out for it like a hawk, or perhaps that should be like a duck).
There was definitely none last year.
Although I’ve no way of proving it, it rather looks as though the frogs may have brought it in.
August 20, 2010 at 11:59 am |
Yep my dad has pictures of frogs carrying pieces of frog sorry duck weed along with Azolla fragments between his ponds – he has four ponds of various sizes – it must be the frogs introducing the different water weeds to pond which did not have any….
J
September 2, 2010 at 12:02 pm |
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September 2, 2010 at 12:27 pm |
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September 5, 2010 at 1:40 pm |
We have managed to keep duckweed out of the new pond so far, but it’s suffering badly with blanket weed. I can’t get it all out as it’s wrapped around plant roots at the shallow end. I have read online that pulling it out spreads the spores so it makes the situation worse. What is the best way to tackle this problem in a wildlife friendly pond?
September 7, 2010 at 8:42 am |
Hi Sally
If there’s lots of blanketweed I’d be inclined to leave it.
It looks awful but its a rich habitat – and when you pull it out the things that are living in it have no home left!
In the end, I think it’s probably encouraged by there being a relatively high level of nutrients, and no competitors.
But….I also think we’ve got quite a bit to learn about the situations where it grows best.
Jeremy