A Fowl Answer To A Foul Problem

By Nancy K. Crevier

Knettie and Flip Archard of Sandy Hook put two and two together and got 11— ducklings, that is.

For the past three summers, the Archards have noticed that their half-acre pond was being overtaken by a tiny, free-floating plant known as watermeal. The invasive plant, each bright green granule smaller than a sesame seed, grows in colonies that begin at the water’s edge and rapidly expand to cover most of the pond surface by midsummer, said Mr Archard.

“The only thing we have heard of that controls watermeal is a chemical that is not even available in Connecticut, that costs $600 a quart, and is not even guaranteed to work when it is applied,” Mr Archard said. Draining the pond and letting the land lie dormant for a year or more was another option, but not one that appealed to them. “The other agent for controlling it is ducks,” he said.

That made sense to the couple. Up until the year before the watermeal problem began, the Archards had always had a flock of ducks. When the last of their most recent flock passed on to the great flock in the sky, they decided not to replace them.

“They are really easy to care for in the warmer months, but in the winter it gets to be a lot of work,” said Mr Archard. “We like to go away in the winter, so it seemed to make sense to not have ducks anymore,” he said.

Then came the watermeal.

Not only is watermeal an unattractive nuisance, if it is not controlled the minute but aggressive plant can deplete oxygen from the pond and cause fish kill, as well as block sunlight needed by underwater plants.

Last year the couple installed two aerators into the creek-fed pond, and while the aerators helped in stabilizing the water temperature of the pond, the watermeal was merely pushed aside in the immediate area of the fans and continued to grow.

“We realized that we have only had this problem since we got rid of the ducks,” Mr Archard said. So on May 20, for just a tenth of the cost of the unobtainable chemical solution, and a far more environmentally friendly solution, 11 yellow Pekin ducklings arrived at their Zoar Road property.

The tiny ducklings, born on Mother’s Day, May 10, arrived in a small cardboard box. Within a week, they had grown so much that four of them would have found that same box a tight squeeze. “They eat constantly,” laughed Mr Archard, “and that’s what we’re counting on. We’re hoping when we put them on the pond that they will gobble up the watermeal.”

While ducks may be the answer to their problem, ducks may also be the reason that watermeal has invaded their pond. Ducks are one of the few creatures known to eat watermeal, and that includes wild ducks.

“There is no sign of watermeal in the creek that feeds the pond, and I haven’t really heard about it being a problem with neighbors,” Mr Archard said, “so it could be that some of the wild mallards that occasionally land on our pond carried it in from elsewhere.”

Right now the ducklings are too small to ward off predators, but before long the Archards will let them waddle down to the pond. If they find the watermeal to their liking, it will be a win-win situation for the Archards and their feathery friends.

“We’re hoping our theory is right and that it all adds up,” Mr Archard said. “Our hope is that the ducks will take care of the situation.”

And that would be just ducky.