Our retention pond in our neighborhood has a lot of algae and problematic plant growth due to the surrounding farms and lawn runoff, so we're experimenting with a floating island to pull nutrients out before they can cause problems. This will also provide some interesting flowering plants, and more fish habitats.
Will be an interesting experiment to see what survives and what does poorly.
Zinnias, sunflowers, marigolds, and a few others are in net pots, inserted into cutouts in EVA foam mats.
Design is from:
http://www.beemats.com/
More reading:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/flowers-grown-floating-on-polluted-waterways-can-help-clean-up-nutrient-runoff/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666765723000637?via%3Dihub
What a fascinating idea!
Iirc, there is some plants that are better at pulling the crap out of soil, should be the same for water. So maybe research some of those for options?
I’ve read cannabis/hemp can be grown to remediate some places.
I’ll give the links a read when I get time later, thanks growmie.
Linky for cannabis
Love it, but we're not as concerned about metals or toxins as we are about excess nutrients.
The papers I listed have plants that they've been using for their remediation, and we're following those lists. I know some of the researchers on those projects, and we'll modify our plant list based on any changes in their recommendations.
Cannabis would pull out excess nutrients as well, I’m just saying there’s probably other options if you wanted to do a little research, but apparently no one wanted to discuss this topic.
I am doing research on this, why do you think I'm not? I posted several links to resources.
Well you rebuffed and turned additional avenues I gave you to look up, it didn’t sound like you were willing to do anything additional. Cannabis does all of those things you are looking for, so clearly there’s more than what the researches you’re using for options.
Usually when someone shares a topic they want to talk about it and learn more, is that not why you posted?
I'm not sure why you're acting like I didn't respond to what you posted. Your paper discussed heavy metal toxicity and I responded that this wasn't a concern in our situation.
I'm not sure why you are offended at my post, because I responded directly to the topic you were discussing.
Through discussion, which was extremely hard, you found out that it can be used for both, and there is potentially other options you can find out for your floating garden.
Why do you think I was offended by your post? I was trying to start a discussion and you apparently immediately thought I said you didn’t do any research.
I’m not OP, but I can answer your question.
You are coming across as argumentative and rather rude about your insistence, when OP has already said whatever you want them to look into is beyond the current scope of the project, which roughly translates to “thanks, but I’m not interested in doing that right now”.
And in response to that, to telling you it’s not in the current scope of a trial project, you are implying they are not doing research or learning or whatever it is (you literally said in your second comment “if you want to do a little research” which does indeed imply you feel they didn’t do enough). When really, you just want them to do something with their time that they don’t want to do, and frankly don’t need to do at this first stage of trial. And you seem to be getting butthurt that they aren’t interested in doing what you want them to. The condescending tone in the comment I’m replying to is a dead giveaway.
Besides which, not everyone wants to deal with growing weed or hemp which looks identical. In fact, most people don’t want to deal with it (obtaining licenses, dealing with theft, etc.). So your focus on that specific plant through your comments seems really genuinely weird, like you can’t fathom people not being stoners or something. That’s quite off-putting.
If you were genuinely trying to start a conversation, you may want to look at how you approach that. When someone says they aren’t interested, like OP did, you can say “ok, well if anyone else is, or if it interests you in the future, here’s the info” and someone will probably reply to it if they want to talk about. You can’t just unilaterally decide what people are going to talk about and force them to participate if they don’t want to discuss it, which honestly seems like what you were trying to do.
Look, you may not have intended it to come across that way, and I get that, but it does. I’m not trying to be mean to you or anything; we all have blind spots in communication because we can only see what we intend to say, and not how it comes across to others. I’m not involved in the conversation and that’s how it came across to me, and probably all the people downvoting you.
They are doing a thing following specific research that they are aware of and probably spent a lot of time on, and know they should be able to reproduce. As such their very first reply to you was them telling you they aren’t interested in expanding their project at this point, and sticking with what they were already planning/doing. I get that that message didn’t come across to you, but it’s absolutely there. You responded to that by saying “I guess nobody wants to discuss that” which is a guilt trip.
And I never said you were forcing anything, I said it honestly seems like that’s what you were trying to do. Which, from the outside, it really absolutely does.
Just because people post things and then don’t want to talk about something tangential to, or an expansion of, the thing they are posting about doesn’t mean they don’t want to discuss whatever it is, it means they don’t want to discuss it the same way you do, or go beyond where they already are. That’s not less valid, even if it upsets you personally to not get to have the conversation you want to.
Don't forget all the people that were already too tired from this conversation before even participating in it to pipe up and decided to just click on the down arrow instead. Here I am piping up, though. You should change your ways if you genuinely want to "have a discussion". You're very right that you don't have to do that for anybody here, though! We don't give a fuck if you ever do find that discussion you're after. But if that is something you might like in the future you might want to examine the way you go about that. But I get it, it's hard not to stay defensive once you've dug yourself in already.
In case it helps for the future, I also think you came off defensive from the first reply. If everyone but you seems like an asshole, you may want to look at how you're acting.
You usually seem pretty positive on here - if you're having a crappy day, I hope things feel better after a night's sleep.
Hey it might be worth another look… my read was that it was a very nice reply, just above this comment I’m responding to :)
You conveniently left out the part where I said to show me the research, and I'd read it.
So far I've gotten a single link to a single paper that was irrelevant to this project, and a whole lot of "you're doing it wrong, trust me bro" from two people.
The part that is basic plant botany and anyone with a basic understanding of how a plant grows would know…? Plants absorb stuff from the soil and hold it, some are better than others. The same has to be true for other mediums like water and coco….
You’re arguing that neither of those are true claims….
Yep, hemp has been long known to rejuvenate soil. It's been used for decades (or more) as a rotation crop to restore soil after something like corn or wheat sucks up all of the nutrients.
https://extension.wvu.edu/lawn-gardening-pests/news/2021/11/01/legumes-nitrogen-fixation#:~:text=Garden%20crops%2C%20such%20as%20peas,that%20operate%20the%20nitrogen%20factory.
Regenerative crops pull nutrients out of the air so they go into the soil, which is the opposite of what our intent is here.
Ok, great. Show me a paper that explains what you are talking about and I'll read it.
I'm following peer reviewed papers on how to remediate ponds, and you're telling me that they are incorrect or insufficient.
I'll add another condescending advice for you: Don't feed the troll.
No seriously, those two other commenters are either insane or trolling. They are completely ignoring your objective and just going on about "rejuvenation".
Please stay as you are and stand your well informed ground!
Yeah, I originally thought they were commenting in good faith, shoulda stopped two comments sooner.
Don't understand what the issue is, I just want sources for recommendations, the only source either of them shared was for a topic that was irrelevant to the discussion.
Plus you can make ropes out of it which are good for sailing or bondage
Did this get downvoted for the bondage bit? Bunch of vanilla fuddy duddies round these parts it seems.
For soil rejuvenation you mulch it back into the soil for compost I thought, you can’t do that if you’re using it for remediation to pull stuff out of the soil as you would be just be putting it right back in again.
You are correct but I think hemp is similar to clover in that there is some symbiotic relationship with other organisms that help rejuvenate the soil even if you don't mulch it back it in. I could be wrong here but I know that plenty of farmers grow hemp between other crops and likely don't "waste" it by mulching it back in.
If you are looking to pull bad stuff out of water, I'd think that growing anything that would hold onto the bad stuff as it falls to the bottom of the river or lake and stores it there would be a solution as well as harvesting and transporting it elsewhere.
There would be some benefits to growing hemp, but in our situation, it wouldn't apply. We aren't looking to add nutrients to the water, we're looking to remove it.
We aren't concerned about other toxins that the hemp would absorb, so while it might be useful in some areas with more industrial pollution, it doesn't apply to this project.
Cannabis can be used for rejuvenation and remediation, it pulls out toxins and nutrients, but can also add nutrients. It can do anything, it’s just how it’s used, so yes it could maybe apply to your project.