duck-hardy plants?-land and aquatic

[rainplace]

I thought if you had a mature grove, ducks and geese would do great out there. I'm new to all this, but that's what I thought I had read.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
How old is your orchard and what kind of trees? we have run ducks (and geese) under our fruit bearing apples pears cherries and peaches. Any thing they can reach they eat but they keep the drops cleaned up ok too Lots more trees than ducks but we haven't seen any real damage yet.

 

[jellybean]

The last ducks I had did fine with trees. My mom planted several in their pen, willows, pines, red dog bush or something like that, and some other bush. They grew twice as fast with all the fertilizer and water. They were probably about 3-5 feet tall when planted and did great. I'd think as long as they have good roots they'd be fine....

 

[ARose4Heaven]

I just planted the apple orchard this year...sounds like I best send the ducks elsewhere for a year or two.

 

[geosheets]

I bought some tropical 10 in. potted plants from Krogers (grocery store chain if anyones not familiar with them). They were starting to clear them out and were selling them for like 8.00 for anything in a 10 inch pot. I found 3 of them that were about 3 foot tall and pretty stout looking plants. I left them in the pots and set them around the duck pond on the ground. The ducks have been chewing on them for about 3 weeks now but the plants are still going strong. I did put some 2 inch stones in the top of the pots to keep them from digging all the dirt out. I have no idea what kind of tropical plants they are though but are apparently safe for ducks. I plan on bringing the plants indoors this winter so that I can neglect and kill them myself.

 

[JessHall]

I herd somewhere that they don't care for ivy.
I have those really tall roses and they can't get to the leaves, so that works out well. I also have Geraniums... they don't seem to bother those too much. They have however TRASHED my veggie garden and lawn.
Good luck...

 

[JessHall]

Quote:
LOL... Too funny

 

[Sweetfolly]

While we're all on the subject - does anyone have a list of plants that are poisonous and shouldn't be planted in a duck run? I thought I read somewhere that anything in the Lilium genus was bad for them.

I love ivy - maybe I'll give that a try. I've been brainstorming since I first read this thread and was thinking perhaps a sturdy, well-started lilac bush would work in the duck run - nothing seems to kill lilacs

Also, I forgot to mention that I have a lovely old White Pine in the duck run that they leave alone (actually, they love it and can always be found sleeping underneath it). And they don't seem to pick at the Trumpeter Vine that's growing on the outside of the fence - but they DO chase the hummingbirds that come to feast on the nectar when it blooms

 

[rainplace]

I thought I read a recent post somewhere that listed poisonous plants... maybe the emergency forum? I tried searching for it the other day with no luck.

 

[neverbdone]

Cattails may not be the answer to your gardening with ducks. I thinned my cattails last week from the bog. With the lovely clippings I "duckeratted" around my duck run weaving the tails through the chainlink fence.

The reeds quickly turned into duckchow. They even threw pieces into the kiddie pool till they got softer so they could enjoy them more. They had a great time tearing apart the brown cattails too.