Four-leaf clover...what would you do?

[joesandy1822]

I have this potted four-leaf clover. The leaves float on the water's surface like a mini water lily. The problem is, with water lilies you can go in the pond and groom the lily to remove dead leaves and spent blooms. This thing has a lot of leaves dead or dying, which I'm sure is adding nutrients to my already "pea soup" pond. I cannot pick off hundreds of individual leaves, but I definitely need to lose the dead stuff. The new center leaves are sticking straight up and about 4" above the surface and not floating. I suspect maybe they will lay flat once the dead ones are gone.

Should I just cut the whole thing back to soil level in the pot and let it rejuvenate from scratch, or what would you all do? There are a lot of roots in the water, which I'm sure are soaking up nutrients, which is great. But I'm afraid the nutrients it's adding because of all the dead is probably outweighing that.

 

[fishin4cars]

I would leave as it is, the more plant the more nutrients it's using and the less algae that will grow. Looking at the plant I would say it's doing more good growing and losing those few leaves. This fall when it really starts dying back then clip all but the center bunch and let them die back on it's own to allow growth for next year.

 

[joesandy1822]

I would leave as it is, the more plant the more nutrients it's using and the less algae that will grow. Looking at the plant I would say it's doing more good growing and losing those few leaves. This fall when it really starts dying back then clip all but the center bunch and let them die back on it's own to allow growth for next year.

Thanks for the input!

If it was just a "few" leaves, I wouldn't be so worried. But it is many, many leaves. If you look closely, it is not just the yellow leaves, but all that brown stuff underneath is dead leaves. There are hundreds. Would you still leave it? I'm not questioning your judgment, just wanted to make sure you knew it wasn't "just a few" leaves. There are a LOT of roots though, and that is what I would hate to get rid of.

 

[addy1]

I just groom it in the fall when it dies back, I cut it down to the pot. IT does send out a ton of roots.

 

[Mmathis]

I have this also. I leave it alone. At least the leaves are small, and with mine, they tend to decompose quickly so don't think they're contributing to the "bottom muck" problem.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I'd probably pick off some of the worst looking leaves just to help open it up a little for the new growth.
Very cool plant, by the way. I might need to find one of those for my stream.