Loving an Ugly Duck(weed)
What I love about duckweed
To each his own favorite crop, but here are my top twelve reasons to love a plant that most consider an ugly duckling in the plant kingdom.
1. I love duckweed’s potential to solve human protein shortages in developing countries.
2. I love its high starch content that can be used for bioenergy.
3. I love its ability to pull waste nutrients out of a water body efficiently.
4. I love its pretty color.
5. I love how it grows so rapidly and I have usable amounts in no time.
6. I love how it harvests easily, using the simplest of tools, even a gunny sack on a stick.
7. I love how it can recycle leach water with it from my garden, vermiculture and compost beds.
8. I love how feeding it to chickens, pigs, fish, etc… create better and healthier weight gains.
9. I love how it is saving 25% of animal feed costs for poor farmers in developing countries.
10. I love how beautiful it is as a zen art form.
11. I love how I can green mulch with it fast and easy.
12. Lastly, I love how people’s perceptions are changing about duckweed for the better.
Ciao,
Tamra
Duckweed Gardening 
I have a pond full of duckweed and would like to know more about howyou can use this wonderful weed. do you sell bags of it to people so the ca start their own duckweed???
LikeLike
Hi Renea, I grow mine outdoors and am careful to tell folks what it contains. IE what species, whether there are snails in it, other water plants, etc… I do not ship mine to Texas or Florida as they have restrictions on importing it. I don’t sell mine per se, but rather just send it to interested people if they pay me for shipping and handling.
You can use it in a variety of ways- for small applications- feed to pet fish, turtles, rabbits, goats, chickens, hogs, or if no animals, mulch it thickly around your garden crops. Works wonderfully for added nitrogen and phosphorus. Keeps the weeds down as well. You can compost it, make art out it… the list goes on… Please review my page on “Uses for Duckweed”. I’ve listed over 70 so far.
Sign up to follow my blog and Twitter. Thanks for reading. Like we say at the International Lemna Association “Get growing and keep going!”
LikeLike
do you feed it to your pets in natural form ,or do you have to dry it out first???? Thanks for replying back….are Texas and Florida the only states that prohibit it?
LikeLike
I love how you love duckweed 🙂
LikeLike