Pond plants that ducks won't eat?

[duckma]

My ducks annihilated all the water lettuce, hyacinth, lilies, iris and cat tails. Nothing is left or survives their appetite. They forage 2 acres and a 25' round pond.

WOW - They are voracious. How many ducks do you have?

 

[CarolTer]

I've dug around online, and scoured old posts here, but I haven't found any good answers yet.

We've moved our ducks (and ourselves for that matter) from more rural sections of Massachusetts to urban St. Louis. But to make up for that, in their new home, the ducks have their pond inside their cage, so have access to it 24/7. This has made them very, very happy, and as a result, they do not miss New England at all.

The flip side of this is, they now get to poop in the pond 24/7. We have a very large filter, sucking from the bottom of the pond, on it, so that helps. But there is still a decent size bio load. Like most man-made ponds, we have a shallow shelf area for plants to help with the bio load. Back in MA, since the ducks weren't with it 24/7, the plants were relatively safe. The irises they never touched (and we've transported some fraction of those to St. Louis). Other plants we could cage when we let the ducks out. But here, the room is tight, so caging the plants is not a good option.

We did put some mint in the shelf area, since for the past two years the ducks seemed totally uninterested in it. Not since moving south, they've decided that they like min (we suspect mint juleps are somehow involved).

So, any other suggestions for non-poisonous, shallow water plants that your ducks seem uninterested in eating?

I put all my pond plants around the parameter and fenced them off with chicken wire (keep the wire far enough that they can't get their beaks through it. ) For 2 water lilies a little farther out - like about 3 feet, I built a floating cover of chicken wire supported by styrofoam pieces to keep it afloat and angered it to a rock on the side of the pond so it can't move off of the water lilies. There is no way to stop ducks from eating pond plants other than a barrier.

 

[CarolTer]

Did the test--my ducks will not eat water lettuce.

Mine ate right through water lettuce.

 

[Deleted member 94844]

I’ve had cannas in the bog for added filtration and once established it is hard for them to get into it, though they will bite leaves and eat any new shoots. The only plants they don’t destroy around the pond are grasses, flax, and woody shrubs.

 

[SoupLava]

I made a little wire mesh cage for my water hyacinth, with an anchor on the bottom (so it touches the bottom of my duck pond). It definitely cleaned up the water and the ducks now go swimming in it again... haven't changed the water yet, though I probably should... trying to research more about this. That's how I stumbled on this site. My duck pond is just a 60 gallon tub (maybe bigger actually?) from the farm supply store, positioned in my run next to the coop, where the rainwater from the roof is collected into an elevated 55 gallon barrel, with the diverter leading into the pond (so there is some waterfall effect). The pond also overflows pretty often because I live in Hawaii on the rainy side where we get tons of rain year-round.

 

[Lpankhurst1]

Following this because I’m having the same problem. They eat everything. The only thing they haven’t touched is the ferns around the edge. They went through 20 water hyacinth in about an hour. I finally gave up. Interested to see what others are learning. Looking up lizards tail now!

Yes, I am having the same problem; quite disappointed! We have a lovely dam (NSW Australia) and have lost 100's if not 1000's of $'s on planting! Tied 16 floating pots together and the only thing that has not been eaten is a grass right in the middle. Will probably fish these pots out and put chicken wire over them; could be ugly! What to do?

 

[Lpankhurst1]

I made a little wire mesh cage for my water hyacinth, with an anchor on the bottom (so it touches the bottom of my duck pond). It definitely cleaned up the water and the ducks now go swimming in it again... haven't changed the water yet, though I probably should... trying to research more about this. That's how I stumbled on this site. My duck pond is just a 60 gallon tub (maybe bigger actually?) from the farm supply store, positioned in my run next to the coop, where the rainwater from the roof is collected into an elevated 55 gallon barrel, with the diverter leading into the pond (so there is some waterfall effect). The pond also overflows pretty often because I live in Hawaii on the rainy side where we get tons of rain year-round.

I'm going to try putting chicken wire around my floating pots (every plant inc water lilies, water hyacinths, and other plants were eaten/destroyed). Hope this does not look too ugly!