Introducing Watercress....

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

No idea..

....So I'll keep my eyes peeled for crawly critters with six legs and antennae

[jpscloud]

The watercress I put in both the pond and the clean trough has perked up and looks quite happy so far.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by jpscloud

The watercress I put in both the pond and the clean trough has perked up and looks quite happy so far.

....It seems to grow a bit slowly at first (like a kettle being watched while waiting to boil) but once established it's steady and in fact a very pretty plant. The flowers last a long time too. It looks quite different from the commercially cultivated plant although mine was originally just that.

[bigdave60dog]

Watercress is a naturally occurring plant. when I was young there were wild watercress beds all over the place. I don`t know where the idea came about it being bad fro your pond. You need to be a bit careful with advice from people who have an axe to grind. In this case it probably came from an "expert" who sold water plants to people with ponds.
I have always tried to match the wild ponds in my locality as much as possible. this together with knowledge and experience of digging and stocking ponds has always seen me doing well with the things.
On the subject of Liver Flukes. They have long and complicated life cycle involving several stages each of which increases the number of fluke from the original.
the stage that concerns us is the one where they encyst themselves upon a plant leaf (Which may be watercress). the plant is eaten by an animal -often a sheep-.
It then hatches out in the animals intestine and thence makes it`s way to the liver where it attaches itself to feed off the animals blood whilst releasing more eggs to hatch outside the body. The cycle -via Mud Snail is then repeated. Even I am wary of eating watercress from sheep areas.
Dave