2006 - Volume #30, Issue #5, Page #19
[ Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue | Print this story
| Read this issue]
Floating Plant Mats Help Clean Logoons
Floating "plant mats" are being tested by researchers at the University of Georgia. The idea is to make floating mats out of coarse coconut shells stretched between a plastic foam frame.
St. Augustine grass, common bermudagrass, Tifton 85 bermudagrass, and giant reed are all being tested in the mats. The first three grass mats can all be used as sod when removed from the water. The giant reed has potential as a biomass source for biofuel.
The researchers are also planning to try the idea to remove nutrients from fish ponds, citrus greenhouse waste water ponds, and Florida canals, where water quality is poor.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, USDA-ARS Southeast Watershed Research Unit, Bob Hubbard, Rainwater Rd., Tifton, Ga. 31784 (ph 229 386-3893; fax 229 386-7294; hubbard@tifton.usda.gov; www.ars.USDA. gov).
Click here to download page story appeared in.
Click here to read entire issue
To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.