How To Grow Hornwort (Coon Tail) As A Sustainable Duck Feed

Hornwort also known as Coon Tail for its puffy, long structure, is an excellent choice for a sustainable food source for ducks which can easily be grown with or without a duck pond.

Since Hornwort does not need to be planted and grows in the water column as a floating, yet submersed, plant, simply breaking off a piece of it will start a whole new plant. This comes in handy as whatever is left behind by the ducks will regrow itself into more and more plants, which means you can grow more and more of it in plastic tubs or other ponds, where it will help to keep the water clean by absorbing nutrients from the water.

Many fast-growing aquatic plants are sources of food for ducks

This means that there are many choices to help give your farm, food garden, or edible landscape ducks the healthiest, most well-rounded, organic, and sustainable diet.

Hornwort also known as Coon Tail for its puffy, long structure, is an excellent choice for a sustainable food source for ducks which can easily be grown with or without a duck pond.

Since Hornwort does not need to be planted and grows in the water column as a floating, yet submersed, plant, simply breaking off a piece of it will start a whole new plant. This comes in handy as whatever is left behind by the ducks will regrow itself into more and more plants, which means you can grow more and more of it in plastic tubs or other ponds, where it will help to keep the water clean by absorbing nutrients from the water. 
 

Growing Hornwort In Fish Tanks

Another place to grow Coon's Tail for your ducks is in fish tanks or aquariums, where it can also keep the water clean, negating the need to buy a filter. To create the proper balance needed to keep your fish thriving and produce hornwort, it is necessary to know more about the Walstad Method and dirted tanks. No worries though, the more you know, the easier and faster it will be for you to grow the best water greens for your feathered friends. 

Upcycling Olive & Pickle Jars For More Hornwort and Whimsy

If you are a fan of upcycling and want to add some beautiful, whimsical touches to your food garden or edible landscape while growing a sustainable green food for your garden ducks, keeping those giant olive and pickle jars is a wonderful way to grow hornwort all over your garden setup in a way that gives your ducks enough access to graze on the hornwort without being able to eat all of it. 

For you this means that you can have lots of coon's tail growing in the most random places of your edible landscape. 

Though the natural messiness of the ducks leaving bits of food in every water source they dip their bills into will add nutrients to your jars to help keep the hornwort growing, it's recommended to keep them well-fertilized for maximum growth. 

You can do this by adding soil or compost to your jars and switching it out every so often, which is easy to do since coon's tail does not need to be planted, or you can add duck pond or fish waste water. 

Adding hornwort to your ducks' water buckets

Ducks tend to leave behind quite a lot of food in any water container they drink from or dunk their heads in to clean out their little bird nostrils. This means gunky, nasty water buckets that will need to be dumped regularly...unless you add a nifty water plant that doesn't need to be planted and will help to soak up the nutrients added by the ducks while providing the additional benefit of growing them another snack right in their duck enclousure. 

Of course, this is something that can be done if your duck house has access to light as the Hornwort plant still needs light to grow. 

You can also add some small rocks to the bottom of your watering bucket to provide surface area for the bacteria needed to turn leftover food gunk into nutrients to grow the hornwort. This will help maximize the growth rate of the plant and minimize the frequency of having to change the water bucket. 
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