Couple questions on submerged plants

[callingcolleen1]

Hey, @callingcolleen1 isn't that one of your videos?

yes it is!

here is another one of my old videos from two years ago, Hornwort was lush and pretty in December that year!!

 

[callingcolleen1]

here you can see the hornwort spin in the water good...

 

[callingcolleen1]

That year the hornwort grew so well, and we had tons of rain that year!
good video of the hornwort.
The hornwort grows best in that pond as there is no filter for it to get caught in. That was my old top pond and the water just flowed threw nice.

 

[moby]

Usman, sorry but I don't understand your comment. I meant what I said, I've never directly planted elodea or hornwort in a pot with soil or gravel. Each year I haul the mass of elodea out, cut lengths of around 2ft from the top growth, so they have now got no roots, tie them to a rock and chuck them back in the pond. They take their chance whether they root into the goop or get pulled out by the koi, those that end up floating grow roots but don't anchor themselves yet still live for 12 months till they get pulled out and cut again. I hoover my pond floor and have good filtration so there is little debris on its base for them to root into anyway. I've only ever bought the original elodea plants as 6 small unrooted bunches of cuttings around 8inches in length when we first built our pond.......and that was in 1989! Each year the plants get regenerated as I've mentioned above, and an overflowing barrow load ends up on the compost heap.
I have 28 fish, My two largest are the 18 inch ghost koi and my pond contains lots of elodea, starwort, 1 marsh marigold and 8 or so lilies. I have grown but don't currently have any hornwort in it.

 

[Foxy93]

Reading this thread looking at gaining a little knowledge, my pond is 4ft deep no shelves. Anything I could plant that will survive at this depth?

 

[WaterLilly]

yes. Clear Water grows hornwort best. I had just let float in my ponds. Try to keep away from big filters that might suck it in..

Thanks for all the info. Well, i didn't think that plant was floating. I thought it was anchored. So, that plant is huge. Has the whole thing been formed by only 1 piece of hornwort? Or are there several plants tied together?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Reading this thread looking at gaining a little knowledge, my pond is 4ft deep no shelves. Anything I could plant that will survive at this depth?

Some water lilies will tolerate depths over 3 feet. Usually species though, not hybrids.

 

[WaterLilly]

Usman, sorry but I don't understand your comment. I meant what I said, I've never directly planted elodea or hornwort in a pot with soil or gravel. Each year I haul the mass of elodea out, cut lengths of around 2ft from the top growth, so they have now got no roots, tie them to a rock and chuck them back in the pond. They take their chance whether they root into the goop or get pulled out by the koi, those that end up floating grow roots but don't anchor themselves yet still live for 12 months till they get pulled out and cut again. I hoover my pond floor and have good filtration so there is little debris on its base for them to root into anyway. I've only ever bought the original elodea plants as 6 small unrooted bunches of cuttings around 8inches in length when we first built our pond.......and that was in 1989! Each year the plants get regenerated as I've mentioned above, and an overflowing barrow load ends up on the compost heap.
I have 28 fish, My two largest are the 18 inch ghost koi and my pond contains lots of elodea, starwort, 1 marsh marigold and 8 or so lilies. I have grown but don't currently have any hornwort in it.

Moby, you know a lot about plants, apparently.

To your opinion what is the best submerged(or anchorable) plant that is not very hard to take care of + providing lots of hiding place for the baby fish? Is hornwort the way to go?

 

[mrsclem]

I checked on the planting instructions on the hybrid lilies I got from Turtle Island. They state that the lilies can tolerate depths of 11 feet!

 

[moby]

I perhaps didn't make it clear that here in the UK it is rare to find lilies that will grow in more than 3-4 ft of water apart from the common white form of Nymphaea Alba and our native yellow Nuphar lily. As Meyer has also noted, these are species lilies and not hybrids.
I'm not aware of the types available to you in the US, so you may well have many more deep water ones. However, as WaterLilly is from Azerbaijan, I've no idea what may be available there.
In answer to your question WaterLilly, in my opinion, elodea IS one of the best, but remember my pond is 2.5 ft max in depth, I don't know what depth it is able to tolerate. However, when I pull it out, some lengths are easily 5ft long so who knows what length it can grow to given the right water conditions. I've not grown hornwort for along time as I've only seen it for sale the once and it didn't last very long for me, I don't know why though!

 

[Mmathis]

@callingcolleen1 I've always been jealous of your hornwort, which doesn't seem to like my almost-tropical climate.

 

[moby]

Mine just turned to mush and disintegrated rapidly. It didn't last very long at all, maybe my water wasn't suitable in some way, I don't have a clue really!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

They state that the lilies can tolerate depths of 11 feet!

Water would require a clarity rarely seen in a pond for sunlight to reach a depth of 11 feet. Methinks that this depth was a little exaggerated.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

native yellow Nuphar lily

Here is an unfairly neglected plant that is hardly ever mentioned yet this is one of the most attractive lily-like plants (and the toughest) that one could ask for. Love those BIG Buttercup blooms.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Hornwort can be tricky to grow for some people. It usually grows well for me and I always have some growing in bottom ponds. Last year it almost vanished from my ponds but making a come back this year.