Floating Plant's Floating roots?

I probably asked this before (like 3-4 years ago) but.....

About 3 weeks ago (Mid-June 2008), I picked up some water hyacinth
and water lettuce (First time I'd seen the lettuce for sale). And
now, the roots are all floating at the surface. (Well, almost all
of them; I do see some new roots that seem to be growing straight
down.) The floating roots are also covered in algae that
reappears after a day or two of removing it (gently shaking roots
in the water to dislodge the algae). These algae- covered roots
are unsightly and nasty looking and seem to keep water from moving
well so that section of the surface is mildly stagnant (until I go
agitate it some how). It also appears that some roots are dying
which I assume is from the uncirculated and heated water.

And now, the question!! Is this normal? Should I worry about it?
Will the plants eventually replace their horizontal roots with
vertical ones? I've been removing the roots that appear to be
dead; should I continue?

And, since I know people are going to ask for pictures of the
pond, here they are (I hope; I just signed up for the service):


http://s313.photobucket.com/albums/l.../2008-July-01/

(Or, for the sreen-width-challenged: http://tinyurl.com/6kw99m )

As you can tell, it's a long work in progress that I don't spend a
lot of work on...

~~Bryan

(And, my apologies if the moderation team gets this more than once. I've
had trouble figuring out how to actually post to the group.)

--
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* Can't see the Forest | Bryan B. *
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Roots will grow down once things are established. Hang in there.

Jim

every time you shake the roots you are removing what will eventually weigh
them down imo - donna
"BB" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I probably asked this before (like 3-4 years ago) but.....
>
> About 3 weeks ago (Mid-June 2008), I picked up some water hyacinth
> and water lettuce (First time I'd seen the lettuce for sale). And
> now, the roots are all floating at the surface. (Well, almost all
> of them; I do see some new roots that seem to be growing straight
> down.) The floating roots are also covered in algae that
> reappears after a day or two of removing it (gently shaking roots
> in the water to dislodge the algae). These algae- covered roots
> are unsightly and nasty looking and seem to keep water from moving
> well so that section of the surface is mildly stagnant (until I go
> agitate it some how). It also appears that some roots are dying
> which I assume is from the uncirculated and heated water.
>
> And now, the question!! Is this normal? Should I worry about it?
> Will the plants eventually replace their horizontal roots with
> vertical ones? I've been removing the roots that appear to be
> dead; should I continue?
>
> And, since I know people are going to ask for pictures of the
> pond, here they are (I hope; I just signed up for the service):
>
>
> http://s313.photobucket.com/albums/l.../2008-July-01/
>
> (Or, for the sreen-width-challenged: http://tinyurl.com/6kw99m )
>
> As you can tell, it's a long work in progress that I don't spend a
> lot of work on...
>
> ~~Bryan
>
> (And, my apologies if the moderation team gets this more than once. I've
> had trouble figuring out how to actually post to the group.)
>
> --
> ************************************************** **********
> * Can't see the Forest | Bryan B. *
> * Through the Spam? | Reply if you want. E-mail *
> * Take it out! | address changes frequently *
> * (Damn Viruses!) | to foil spambots. *
> ************************************************** **********
>

I just let my watter lettuce and roots work themselves down. I have them right next to my waterfalls though, so there is water movement.

You can see where my water lettuce is in the following picture. The waterfall is just to the left, behind the cattails. They blew off their shelf during our last thunderstorm. I have put them back, but no updated picture.

Step back from the plants!
Pour a glass of wine, sit by the pond, sip the wine, stay. ;-)

k :-)

kathy <> wrote:
> Step back from the plants!
> Pour a glass of wine, sit by the pond, sip the wine, stay. ;-)

When my Koi pond was still active, I grew pennywort (Thai call them bua
bok) in it. I dug them up from the garden, rinsed the dirt off the roots
and dropped them in the pond. They flourished, even with the fish nibbling
on their roots.

I'll have a Russian coffee instead of wine, thanks. ;-)

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War.
They are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops.
You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

kathy <> wrote in news:1008208c-47d9-40b4-8cd7-
:

> Step back from the plants!
> Pour a glass of wine, sit by the pond, sip the wine, stay. ;-)
>
> k :-)

So, I'm supposed to go playing with the plants while tipsy??

I'll take a margarita, thank you.

(Ok, ok. I get it now.... I'll jus' leave 'em alone... Thanks for
the advice, folks.)

~~Bryan

--
************************************************** **********
* Can't see the Forest | Bryan B. *
* Through the Spam? | Reply if you want. E-mail *
* Take it out! | address changes frequently *
* (Damn Viruses!) | to foil spambots. *
************************************************** **********

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 23:07:12 EDT, Nick Cramer <> wrote:

>I'll have a Russian coffee instead of wine, thanks. ;-)

If we're serving drinks, make mine an iced soy mocha. ;-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

You know they say green tea is really good for
you.... how do we know it is not really just algae
and pond water?

k :-)

"kathy" <> wrote in message
news:255cb089-6f95-4749-bdd5-...
> You know they say green tea is really good for
> you.... how do we know it is not really just algae
> and pond water?
>
> k :-)

Let's see: A lot of green tea comes from China, right?

On the news yesterday was a story about a huge algae outbreak on a
body of water (lake?) where Olympic sailing would take place. They
were hauling away tons of the stuff.

Supposedly to feed it to pigs. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one
before!

I think I'll switch back to coffee for awhile.

Gail