Azolla Farming: How to Cultivate Azolla?

I am very happy to share to you the steps on how to make the small pond to grow Azolla fern in your backyard that will help you feed your livestock and fish. But before that i would like to add a description about azolla fern for you to have an idea.

What is Azolla?

Azolla is an aquatic fern with other name (fairy moss or duck week, water fern or mosquito fern). As a super plant it can be a food for humans, it can be use as green fertilizer , a fodder and has a tremendous benefits in our environment.

So to start with, I will show you the steps on how to create a small pond where you grow the azolla.

1. Find the Area where to install the pond.
The very first thing is to find an ideal space where you want to put the pond. A place where there is sunlight (not literally in an open space because azolla will died with too much exposure to heat) a lightly shaded area with at least 30% of sunlight can pass through. When you find the right spot, decide how big is the area of your pond and measure it to match with the size of your tarpaulin.  When buying a tarpaulin please ensure to have an allowance length and width since the tarpaulin will be folded upward.

2. Prepare the needed materials.
The next step is to gather the materials needed for the pond. When i started my pond, I used old tarpaulin for me to save money. So we will use tarpaulin, wood post,rope or strap, water, soil and animal manure. You can buy tarpaulin in the stores near you, our you can use also thick plastic if you have in your house as you can see in the picture above. Just use your creativity to save money and allot it to important things. 

The tarpaulin you'll going to use shouldn't have holes to avoid the water to slip out and your azolla will ran out of water. The water must be unchlorinated and use fresh water only because azolla will not grow and definitely will die in salt water and we also used dry manure of cow or pig.

Your area should be the same level before starting anything.

3. Install the wood posts.

 When the materials are prepared we will start the pond. It's for you if you want to dig on the area  or just place the tarpaulin without digging but for me i don't dig at all. Start with measuring and placing the wood post and ensure it's tightly placed to avoid collapse because when we fill it with water there will be a pressure on it. If your area is large, i would advise you to install extra posts on the middle of each four corners of the main post in order for you to attach some strap there to have a better and stronger hold of your pond.

4. Fasten the edges of your tarpaulin.

Before installing the tarpaulin on the area, spot and remove sharp objects to avoid damaging the tarpaulin. Tightly fasten the four corners of your tarpaulin first, followed by the secondary post if added additional post on it. Your tarpaulin should be neat and well balance in the middle. 

See picture below as an example.

5. Put water.
As I said earlier, use fresh water to fill the pond.

6. Put soil.

Tear down the big parts of soil to small pieces into mud. Remove the unwanted objects like plastic, rocks, metals and other objects that were in the soil. 

7. Put the manure.

I used dried manure, pulverize and distribute it evenly in the pond. I used cow dung where i can find it new to our home, you can use other manure in your backyard. I also removed floating objects that were included in the manure to clean the pond.

8. Put Azolla in the pond.
When the soil and manure subsided in the pond, it's time for you to put the azolla in the pond.

Monitor the growth of your azolla everyday, after 1 maximum of 2 weeks your pond will be full and you can start feeding your livestock and fish. Add manure if it grows slowly and other farmer put phosphorus where azolla grows faster. 

That would be all. I would like to thank you if  you reached until the end of my post.

If you have some questions just put your comment below or visit my facebook page at: AZLPhilippines

and by the way i am the person in step 6.😀