Hullo Steve. Thanks for letting us see your innovative ideas....obviously working well. I am in southern Tasmania and have been researching Azolla and its uses for several years. One of my problems has been in the harvesting from our dam, whilst remaining on dry land and not having to swim through the weedy surface. Anyway, now at the ripe old age of 81 it's past a joke for me to even try! I have been using an ordinary garden rake, the plastic, fan-shaped sort. I turn it upside down and scoop Azolla out bit-by-bit. Slow although fairly effective. Your idea seems much better and I will try it. I harvest it for the chooks and for fertiliser. My conclusion about growth of Azolla and Duckweed (Lemna minor) is as follows: Azolla, when grown to maturity, is able to sporulate, then the spores (male and female) sink down into the mud, ready to fertilise when conditions are just right. The microscopic zygote then rises to the surface and grows to adulthood. As the plant ages, some of it dies off underneath and sinks into the mud, where it decays. This releases nutrients, including nitrates, into solution. As I understand it, (and happy to be corrected by others who know more about it,) when concentration of nitrates is too great, Azolla dies back. This allows more light and oxygen into the water, allowing duckweed to begin its cycle of growth. Nutrients are removed from solution, down to a lower concentration, where Azolla can once again begin another cycle of growth. As it happens, both Azolla and Duckweed are valuable products. They are each favoured as food supplement by chickens and ducks/geese. Both are very good slow-release green manure crops. Both are productive crops for growing on dams, incidentally helping to clarify the water and remove some heavy metals. (NB it's not permitted to feed Azolla to ruminants at this time in Australia.) There is still lots of research just waiting to be done. Personally I know not even 1/10th of the information available, but still passionate and ready to learn more. You might care to look into www.theazollafoundation.org, for further interesting reading. Best wishes for your ongoing work.
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide this detail - it is appreciated and I hope it also helps others - I love a community to help being learn :)
I was just wondering for a tool which is simple to make and easy to use and i saw your invention...,..which seems perfect 💯% usefull ..... Thanks a lot for sharing this with us
Gosh, wish I had seen this video about a year ago 😂 I used an ordinary garden rake and wore myself out in no time. Tip though, used it in my compost heap, fantastic additive.
Sorry about my slow reply. Unfortunately it probably will come back - wildlife will transfer it from pond to pond. The thing to focus on is to just keep it managed and you do that by removing small amounts regularly. If you let it go, it can become an arduous job, but done regularly, it is not so much hard work. Hope this helps :)
Hullo Steve. Thanks for letting us see your innovative ideas....obviously working well.
I am in southern Tasmania and have been researching Azolla and its uses for several years.
One of my problems has been in the harvesting from our dam, whilst remaining on dry land and not having to swim through the weedy surface. Anyway, now at the ripe old age of 81 it's past a joke for me to even try!
I have been using an ordinary garden rake, the plastic, fan-shaped sort. I turn it upside down and scoop Azolla out bit-by-bit. Slow although fairly effective. Your idea seems much better and I will try it.
I harvest it for the chooks and for fertiliser.
My conclusion about growth of Azolla and Duckweed (Lemna minor) is as follows:
Azolla, when grown to maturity, is able to sporulate, then the spores (male and female) sink down into the mud, ready to fertilise when conditions are just right. The microscopic zygote then rises to the surface and grows to adulthood.
As the plant ages, some of it dies off underneath and sinks into the mud, where it decays. This releases nutrients, including nitrates, into solution.
As I understand it, (and happy to be corrected by others who know more about it,) when concentration of nitrates is too great, Azolla dies back. This allows more light and oxygen into the water, allowing duckweed to begin its cycle of growth. Nutrients are removed from solution, down to a lower concentration, where Azolla can once again begin another cycle of growth.
As it happens, both Azolla and Duckweed are valuable products. They are each favoured as food supplement by chickens and ducks/geese. Both are very good slow-release green manure crops. Both are productive crops for growing on dams, incidentally helping to clarify the water and remove some heavy metals. (NB it's not permitted to feed Azolla to ruminants at this time in Australia.)
There is still lots of research just waiting to be done. Personally I know not even 1/10th of the information available, but still passionate and ready to learn more.
You might care to look into www.theazollafoundation.org, for further interesting reading.
Best wishes for your ongoing work.
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide this detail - it is appreciated and I hope it also helps others - I love a community to help being learn :)
I was just wondering for a tool which is simple to make and easy to use and i saw your invention...,..which seems perfect 💯% usefull .....
Thanks a lot for sharing this with us
Glad it was helpful!
Gosh, wish I had seen this video about a year ago 😂 I used an ordinary garden rake and wore myself out in no time. Tip though, used it in my compost heap, fantastic additive.
Glad you liked it 😊. Unfortunately it will most likely be back, so perhaps you can use this idea next time 😊
Thank you Steve, very cool.
You are very welcome. Hope you found it interesting😄
You remind me of the great Steve Irwan.
Hahahaha. A hard act to follow 😀
@@iCultivate1 you're doing good. Keep it up and best wishes.
Steve thank you for the very informative information about porn weed removal Paula and I loved it and we love your pond too
Hahaha ..... I hope you meant "pond" weed removal, Brett!
If it is all removed will it grow back? How can I prevent it from returning?
Sorry about my slow reply. Unfortunately it probably will come back - wildlife will transfer it from pond to pond. The thing to focus on is to just keep it managed and you do that by removing small amounts regularly. If you let it go, it can become an arduous job, but done regularly, it is not so much hard work.
Hope this helps :)
🙋 Promo_SM.