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Water Hyacinth

Started by Guest_Irate Mormon_* , Sep 14 2006 10:40 AM

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#1 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 14 September 2006 - 10:40 AM

Last year at about this time built a 1500 gallon pond (details on that project are here: www.bayspringstel.net/~archimedes
Since the pond gets about 1/2 day of sunlight, I was worried about algae getting a foothold before I could get some plants established. This was my solution. In photo 1, you see 3 hyacinths that I appropriated from a nearby natural pond. That's them, way back in the corner.

Second photo, fast forward to July (about 8 months later). No algae problems here! Since then, the Salvinia I introduced has taken a nice foothold (i.e. it covers almost the entire surface) and I was able to destroy most of the hyacinth. I need to collect some more lilies now, and maybe some cattails. I would love to plant some golden club as well.

Attached Files

DSC02098.JPG 60.95KB 133 downloads
hyacinth.JPG 192.05KB 132 downloads

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#2 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 14 September 2006 - 10:57 AM

Yowza!

Your pics are quite a demonstration of the evil water hyacinth and how fast it can take over the water's surface. I can only imagine if your pond didn't have walls and it could grow unchecked. Actually, I can't imagine. I wonder if someone has experimented to determine the growth (coverage) rate of this species. I bet someone has.

It's really too bad that such a beautiful plant can be such a pest.

If you want some (much more controllable) blue in the pond (and blue is such a pretty flower color), you might look for some pickerel weed. It grows at the edge. It's shorter than cattail, who's height depends a lot on what variety you have. While natural cattails can get quite tall and spactacular, the commercial varieties are a lot shorter. If you collect your own, I'd put the pickerel weed towards the water side of the pond so it doesn't get hidden.

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#3 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 14 September 2006 - 10:59 AM

Hey Irate, I can't link to your other pictures. Something about the domain name not existing. Is there a typo? I wanna check out your pond!

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#4 Guest_drewish_*

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Posted 14 September 2006 - 11:09 AM

Martin, your URL is wrong but I figured out the right one and fixed it for you. Nice step-by-step demo of what you did. I may be making a small version of that sometime next year.

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#5 Guest_drewish_*

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Posted 14 September 2006 - 11:10 AM

Hey Irate, I can't link to your other pictures. Something about the domain name not existing. Is there a typo? I wanna check out your pond!

Try again.

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#6 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 14 September 2006 - 12:00 PM

I wonder if someone has experimented to determine the growth (coverage) rate of this species.

Well, it's geometric I would guess. That means the plants double every so often. Start with a penny, then double your money every day for a month. Go ahead, do the exercise. Let me know when you get tired of counting zero's!

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#7 Guest_Aqua Trooper_*

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Posted 27 September 2006 - 09:40 AM

That's a lot of plants.

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#8 Guest_killier_*

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Posted 16 October 2006 - 08:35 PM

had that stuff in my pond I warn all of you it kills fish when it dies(toxic)
lost a really nice albino channel

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#9 Guest_ipchay61_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 09:08 AM

had that stuff in my pond I warn all of you it kills fish when it dies(toxic)
lost a really nice albino channel

Martin, have you ever had this problem? Ive never lost any fish when it dies in my ponds. Of course, I tend to remove plants that are dying as the weather cools instead of leaving them in the water to rot. In my experience Water Hyacinth is not anymore toxic than other aquatic plants. Robert, also be aware that this plant is considered an Aquatic Nuisance Species and is illegal to possess in the state of SC without a permit.

http://www.dnr.sc.go...c/illegal1.html

Chip (whose ponds, fish, and plants are fully permitted by the SCDNR)

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#10 Guest_ipchay61_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 09:15 AM

Oh yeah...on a side note.....I no longer keep Water Hyacinth in my ponds. Laura, aka "nativeplanter", had suggested some other good alternatives back in '04 when Dustin and I hosted the NANFA Convention.
Chip

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#11 Guest_ipchay61_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 09:20 AM

Martin, In your first post in this thread you said you would like some Golden Club. My experience with these has been unsuccessful when attempting to transplant grown plants. I have discovered that the unrooted seedlings that you might find floating around them are very easy to grow. I suggest you try some of these. If you can't find any, let me know and I'll send you some. Already need to send some to Casper.

Chip in SC

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#12 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 09:57 AM

Oh yeah...on a side note.....I no longer keep Water Hyacinth in my ponds. Laura, aka "nativeplanter", had suggested some other good alternatives back in '04 when Dustin and I hosted the NANFA Convention.
Chip

I did? What did I suggest, and how are they working out?

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#13 Guest_ipchay61_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 10:04 AM

I did? What did I suggest, and how are they working out?

Think about it.....remember when you came by and saw my ponds? If it wasn't during the convention, then it was on one of the other trips when you drove up.

Chip

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#14 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 10:17 AM

Come on now, Chip, that was over 2 years ago!!

Let's see... I vaguely recall that you were looking to protect bluefin killie fry. I probably suggested frogbit and ceratophyllum? Eleocharis vivipara (live-bearing eleocharis - forms a jumbly mat)? Lilaeopsis carolinensis?

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#15 Guest_ipchay61_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 11:44 AM

Come on now, Chip, that was over 2 years ago!!

Let's see... I vaguely recall that you were looking to protect bluefin killie fry. I probably suggested frogbit and ceratophyllum? Eleocharis vivipara (live-bearing eleocharis - forms a jumbly mat)? Lilaeopsis carolinensis?

I use the first two but there was another you suggested, and I still have, but I can't recall the name (was hoping you would remember).

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#16 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 11:50 AM

What does it look like?

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#17 Guest_ipchay61_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 01:57 PM

What does it look like?

It has green leaves and roots with a stem in between. :wink:

Actually, we collected it down near Bennettsville........ baby tears or something similar sound right?

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#18 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 02:48 PM

Probably. Does it look like this:

http://www.biologica...?uniq=micra_umb

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#19 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 06:29 PM

Martin, have you ever had this problem? Ive never lost any fish when it dies in my ponds.

No, but like you I removed it. I only used hyacinth to keep the pond from getting choked with algae while it was new. Now it's overgrown with Salvinia, but I've put in some pickerel weed and some other stuff I've found in my travels.

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#20 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 17 October 2006 - 06:31 PM

Martin, In your first post in this thread you said you would like some Golden Club. My experience with these has been unsuccessful when attempting to transplant grown plants. I have discovered that the unrooted seedlings that you might find floating around them are very easy to grow. I suggest you try some of these.

Thanks for the tip - I know a good site for this plant. I only get down that way maybe once a year if I'm in the mood, but I will definitely go this route. You probably saved me a lot of trouble!