Dividing Hyacinth

[pugle1]

After putting in some hyacinth, I'm getting runners with new plants and roots growing at the end of them. Is it possible to just clip the runner to separate the babies from the parent plant, or will that cause damage to both? I'd like to divide them so they're more spread out. They're a bit expensive to buy here at about $6.00 per plant.

Thanks folks

 

[adavisus]

You might find hyacinth grow faster when left alone, not dividing them

I've been cropping young hyacinth as soon as they have good roots on them and noticed the parent plant puts its strength into flowering mode and cuts back on making new offsets...

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[pugle1]

Thanks Andy,

I appreciate the feed-back. This is my first year with hyacinth, so I wasn't sure what to expect with them. I know they spread, but I wasn't sure whether to spit them up or not.. I was just thinking that separating them might encourage the babies to grow and spread a little faster themselves. So ..... leave them alone it is!

Paul

 

[adavisus]

When they begin to self crowd and start to grow tall is good timing to break them up. Hyacinth look perty neat until they crowd up

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[koiguy1969]

its been my experience that when they get packed together and grow up instead of out is when they look best, 'in my opoinion'. ive never seen much difference in growth no matter the time of dividing. they do seem to like moving water. shallower moving water. probably due to a constant flow of nutrients thru their roots. i get 2' of height in my hyacinths in the top of my filter, with offshoots growing outside the filter, basically rootless. fresh nutrient rich water feeding them in a constant flow. before returning to the pond and being diluted.

 

[pugle1]

Hi koiguy,

This are only 3 plants that I put in, but they are spreading, and the off-spring are growing their own roots. That's why I was asking about diving them. But as Andy said above, they may concentrate on flowering, rather than growing. I want them to flower, but I'd rather let them grow and spread a little more before they flower. It's not a large pond to begin with, so the water temps get high fairly quickly. I want flowers, yes, but I'd rather have the shade for the fish.

 

[koiguy1969]

if you want to enjoy their flowers you best have alot of them or own a camera...because the bloom for a day or two then the flowers die off. but if you have alot, you can enjoy a few flowers at a time for a while. if you have an open topped filter like a skippy style and want size and large flowers put a few in the top of your filter for a time. see how they do. they will continue to send out tubers even when theyre packed tight. they'll shoot out over the floating ring if you use one. or even outside the filter hanging in the air, rootless. posted a pic of hyacinths in my filter in thread "water hyacinth greenhouse" in the DIY section. page #3 ..post #37...heres a link... look at the free floating ones and the ones in my filter. in fact all the other pics, none come close to the ones in my filter.
link.... https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/8992-water-hyacinth-greenhouse/page__st__30

 

[pugle1]

I'm not currently running a filter. Well actually I do have a home made one that I use. I put it into the top pond for a day or so once every week and a half. This keeps the water nice and clear. My set-up is still fairly new, and when I "opened" my pond, I kind of jumped in feet first without any research. So, that said, I'll be making additions and improvements over time. All that really matters to me is my water quality and after testing, all is well in that department. I don't even have a skimmer yet. If you'd like to see my set-up so far, I posted some images in my photo gallery. (pugle1's pond).

As I said koiguy... I do want flowers on the hyacinths, but right now I'm more concerned with the number of plants for water quality. Nice photos BTW..... even though the flowers are short-lived, they're beautiful to look at.