Water Hyacinth bloom....

[Troutredds]

I don't add any fertilizer, @j.w. Maybe they get enough nutrients from the sediment that gets trapped below our river rock. For our pond, they seem to do best when the roots are anchored to the bottom. Priscilla has the tropical climate that they love though, so I wonder why hers don't go crazy.

 

[RobAmy]

They need heat at nutrients. I have had lots of blooms in the past, but didn't get any at all this year, and we had lots of heat. Problem was the pond stayed pretty nutrient free, even the algae did poorly this year.
In my old pond I periodically added potash one year and my water hyacinth grew huge, some were nearly 4 ft from top to the bottom of the roots, and they bloomed like crazy.
Here is a time lapse videos I made of some of the blooms that year.

Great time lapse

 

[RobAmy]

Mine did great last year, this year not one bloom

 

[addy1]

See I'm wondering if shallow is the key for some of us

The only time they did good for me was the group in the small shallow warm full sun stream pond. I had a group in the big pond at the same time yellow, poor growth hardly any blooms. The ones in the stream pond bloomed constantly.

 

[CeeJayH]

A great time lapse, and the music fitted very sympathetically. I haven't had any WH this year, but I can't remember them ever blooming in the past. The UK climate is probably too cold, even when we have a good summer.

 

[Priscilla]

Yes, I think having the roots anchored would be good for them. I did read they do best when that happens. But still, for something considered so invasive, it sure doesn't work out for me. I should be in charge of eradicating them!

 

[j.w]

Alas I have no shallowness for them so they can live in you guys ponds w/ the low water and warm temps and I shall sit back and enjoy your lovely blooming photos each year

 

[Sbenson11]

Well supposedly Water Hyacinths are the fastest growing plant known to man. However that is not anywhere close to me


For Water Hyacinths to grow rapidly you need to have warm water, high light and nutrients in your water to feed them. Oh ya they need their roots to be left alone


In my ponds the nutrients are usually zero, they don’t get much direct sunlight and it takes most of the summer for the water to get warm enough. So it goes without saying that the water hyacinths in my ponds never flower. However they regularly do in my tanks I have at work.


Water hyacinths are actually a great indicator for me as to how my water is doing. If they are pale and slow growing, the water is good. If they turn dark green, then I could have a nitrate problem.


I actually sell pond plants on the side and the ones I propagate in the holding tanks that have Koi in them usually have no roots left on them and grow really slow. Once I transfer them into tubs with some fertilizer in the water they green right up in the matter of a couple of days.


This is a little video of some of the plants that I sell. At one point you can see I break off a water hyacinth and drop it into a Rubbermaid tube. You can see a big difference in the one that came out of the tank with fish in it and ones in the tub that I drop it into. The ones in the tub have been there for a few days and are nice and green. Later in the season the ones left behind will flower in these tubs.

Steve