Time to Scale Up Duckweed Production
January 6, 2013
After four years of growing duckweed in kiddie pools, old boots, and assorted kitchen containers, I have committed to scaling up to two acres of ponds this spring. Will use the fresh duckweed for higher end uses and excess for animal feedstock. There. I announced it. Now you know why I haven’t been posting as much as usual. (Well, that and building pull-out trays for my kitchen cabinets…) NOW I KNOW WHY PEOPLE BUY CABINETS READY-MADE!!!!!! Still, a nicely rolling cabinet tray designed to hold 75 pounds of kitchen pots, pans and probably an occasional grandchild is a nice feeling of accomplishment.
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Duckweed Gardening 
Jenny, Join us on LinkedIn group: International Lemna Association and meet the movers and shakers in duckweed production. You are automatically considered a general member of our larger organization: International Lemna Association. (free)
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Have fun!
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Thanks for all the ideas for inspiration. I actually work at an urban garden center, so I am pretty consistently running into amazing new ideas for curious new designs, new (to me, anyhow) plants, tools, materials, et al. It is good to be surrounded by people who are so fascinated by plants – it really keeps my gears greased.
However! We do nothing with duckweed. I should get some duckweed production going on!
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Go for it, Jenny! You can use it for green mulch for your bedding plants, even sell it as a nitrogen starter for compost piles or vermiculture beds, as well as fresh animal feed supplements… The list goes on and on…
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Yes!! I am amazed at the possibilities.
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We are in process building a biorefinery using duckweed for anaerobic digester effluent phytoremediation. It combines remediation, biogas, ethanol and feed as the outcomes.
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Chris, that is very exciting! The duckweed aspect ties it all together. Phytoremediation is where the ag industry needs to be in general. Am hopeful that your integrated system will be a prelude to great things to come in agriculture/bioenergy.
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