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Watercress
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Slim



Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 18 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nicky Colour it green wrote:
Jamanda wrote:
Well, I don't have a stream. I don't suppose the pond water is too evil - the main beasts it has are frogs and newts. I'll give it a go.


it's the teeny beasties you need to be wary of - the parasites and bacteria - liver fluke is a parasite that lives on watersnails, IIRC


I think it needs both snails and sheep to complete its lifecycle

www.scops.org.uk/internal-parasites/liver-fluke/lifecycle/

Nicky cigreen



Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk
PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 18 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Slim wrote:
Nicky Colour it green wrote:
Jamanda wrote:
Well, I don't have a stream. I don't suppose the pond water is too evil - the main beasts it has are frogs and newts. I'll give it a go.


it's the teeny beasties you need to be wary of - the parasites and bacteria - liver fluke is a parasite that lives on watersnails, IIRC


I think it needs both snails and sheep to complete its lifecycle

www.scops.org.uk/internal-parasites/liver-fluke/lifecycle/

No, it doesn't need sheep to complete the cycle, as I understand it, just something to eat the fluke eggs, in you link the something is a sheep, but other animals can compkete the cycle, cattle, rabbuts, and humans.... if a human eats an egg, say by chewing grass, or eating infected raw food, they can develop fluke. In various Asian countries it is common to catch it by eating raw fish

Slim



Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 18 12:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nicky Colour it green wrote:
Slim wrote:
Nicky Colour it green wrote:
Jamanda wrote:
Well, I don't have a stream. I don't suppose the pond water is too evil - the main beasts it has are frogs and newts. I'll give it a go.


it's the teeny beasties you need to be wary of - the parasites and bacteria - liver fluke is a parasite that lives on watersnails, IIRC


I think it needs both snails and sheep to complete its lifecycle

www.scops.org.uk/internal-parasites/liver-fluke/lifecycle/

No, it doesn't need sheep to complete the cycle, as I understand it, just something to eat the fluke eggs, in you link the something is a sheep, but other animals can compkete the cycle, cattle, rabbuts, and humans.... if a human eats an egg, say by chewing grass, or eating infected raw food, they can develop fluke. In various Asian countries it is common to catch it by eating raw fish


Ah yes, good clarification. I guess the question is if you don't have sheep, and are keeping your poo out of water, what else is eating the eggs to keep the life cycle going in that locality? (unless you're frequently getting an influx of migratory snails?)

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 18 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The problem is knowing what is upstream of you. If you have a spring in the garden, you are all right, but otherwise, it could go through enough countryside for all sorts of things to be using.

Nicky cigreen



Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk
PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 18 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Slim wrote:
I guess the question is if you don't have sheep, and are keeping your poo out of water, what else is eating the eggs to keep the life cycle going in that locality? (unless you're frequently getting an influx of migratory snails?)


I'm not really up on freshwater snail migration - but they do seem to just appear in garden ponds... maybe they hitch a lift on visiting frogs?...who knows... there's probably a study about it somewhere

Not pooing in the garden pond seems like a good general life rule....

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 18 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Tell birds and fish that.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 18 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Liver fluke definitely needs the sheep and the snail to do its life cycle. It is one of the few things that stick in my mind after 35 years since college, the snail is called limnia trunculata, useless gen to me now I don't have sheep!
Dry summers reduce the snail numbers significantly, as does generally dry ground, reeds present in a pasture indicate there is a fair bit of wetness. Cattle can also get liver fluke, but this doesn't show to the degree that it does in sheep due to the size of cattle, they can stand it. Not sure about horses. It is also interesting that only one particular stage,(third stage larval) is infective to sheep. So not only does this snail have to be there for infection to occur, there also has to be a passing sheep to pick up the infective stage for sheep, picking up the 1st or 2nd stage larvae does not cause the disease to take place. This is all memory so hazy!
I will find my old college notes and check, but the gist is right!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15998

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 18 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The other question with watercress is, does it pick up and concentrate heavy metals and other toxic substances. I know lettuce does, which is why market gardens have been removed from high soil levels of arsenic areas.

Slim



Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 18 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mistress Rose wrote:
The other question with watercress is, does it pick up and concentrate heavy metals and other toxic substances. I know lettuce does, which is why market gardens have been removed from high soil levels of arsenic areas.


I don't think there are any greens that selectively exclude heavy metals to a much greater degree than any others.

The bigger differences are between sections of a plant. i.e., the further removed from the soil that tissue is (and therefore the number of barriers, e.g., kasparian strip, placental barrier) the less metal it will contain.

In the case of soil containing elevated lead levels, while it is ill-advised to eat root crops, you will ingest more lead from that same dirt on the outside of your tomato than you will from the inside of the fruit.

oliveoyl



Joined: 18 Sep 2008
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 18 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Due to the aforementioned water issues, I grow land cress instead, it grows well in damp, shady conditions, it tastes very similar to watercress, I use as cut and come again leaves, it self seeds if you let it, so only need to buy one packet, and it's jolly hardy, I've been picking throughout the winter. Bolts if allowed to dry out.

https://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/cress-seeds-american-land-pid2330.html

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