What to plant in duck pond

[Featherandfly]

Does anyone else have a pond they plant and flood for ducks? If so what do you usually plant? I have read Japanese Millet is a good choice but thought I would ask here.

Thanks


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[MickThompson]

Nothing this late. Do you have the ability to get the water off?

 

[GUNNERX2]

Jap millet is good but is subject to getting wiped out by blackbirds as the stalk is strong enough to support their weight without breaking. Barnyard grass is good as well as any of the smartweed varieties. Given time, these will reseed every year and you'll just need to manage it by eliminating undesirable vegetation.

 

[scn]

If you plant anything out of the normal planting times, it could very likely lead to a baiting situation.

 

[Grnwing]

Some great advice already given and I would echo GUNNERX2 with the Jap millet and moist soil grasses/weeds. I have planted corn but it requires a lot more maintenance then the millet/barnyard/smartweed. Being able to control water levels is pretty critical to it being successful.

Good luck

 

[Displaced_Vol]

I was listening to a podcast (Duck Farmer I think) & they had an agronomist on talking about people that want to plant corn giving Milo a try as it is a little easier.
I'd I had a place to manage I would shoot for very shallow water and millets along with whatever other natural foods I could get to grow (smartweeds, barnyard grass, etc)

 

[Featherandfly]

I'm not going to plant this year as it is to late, thank you for the information.


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[GUNNERX2]

It's really interesting what will come up if just left alone. We can't control the water at our place but the water level will drop over the summer due to evaporation and expose mud flats. What comes up each year will be a mystery. Some years the predominant plant might be red root sedge, barnyard grass or nodding smart weed. This year it's nodding smart weed, having a 10 yard wide swath 3/4 the distance around a 10 acre pond. Winter rains will bring the water level up and flood the food but unless we get some heavy rains early on, it's usually late Dec or early Jan before that happens.

 

[TAFKAP]

Why is rice not a more prominent food crop for duck holes?

 

[Displaced_Vol]

Geography, climate & ag economics would be my guess. Go over to AR & MO and you'll find plenty of it. West TN and West KY, while flatter than the rest of their states, still ain't all that flat. Local co-ops aren't going to routinely carry rice seed and anything related to growing it if there's not a significant amount of ground planted.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Can you control the water?

 

[Featherandfly]

Yes, I can control the water.


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[Uncle Jesse]

I've got a pond that I planted something in for about 12 consecutive years. Everything from Jap millet to rice to corn. Never had a successful year. Something always went wrong from floods to song birds to army worms

Never killed more than a couple ducks on it until last year. I just decided it wasn't worth the headache so I didn't plant anything. That pond was my best spot with what just came up naturally