Water Hiacynth

[Bluerooster]

Blooming for the first time in 4 years.

 

[Lisak1]

Beautiful! Mine have bloomed like CRAZY this year!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Mine too! Must be a good year for water hyacinth no matter where you are!

 

[addy1]

Mine never really bloomed well, tried them one year and never again. Have way to many other plants

 

[poconojoe]

No blooms here in northeastern Pennsylvania. And they haven't bloomed in years.
I'm thinking they don't get enough sun with all the trees we have.
There's plenty of nutrients since it's quite overpopulated. So it must be lack of enough direct sunlight.

 

[brokensword]

no blooms here in Mich, either, and we've had more than enough sun+humidity. I did put them in late and they were small; only now do they have any growth and spread to them but I've routinely had little luck getting them to bloom other than maybe a couple per bunch. Shame, as they really are great looking flowers.

 

[Lisak1]

I wish I knew the secret! They're so pretty when they bloom and it's like the bloom comes out of nowhere!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

That's what makes the blooms so special - not only do they look absolutely & beautifully amazing, they're random & only pop up when we're not looking too hard or expecting too much! lol

What I noticed is this - I got a few blooms out of the ones plopped in the upper pool. This is a shallow, flow-through area at the upper level of our pond. But, last month I had some extras that I was about to remove/toss out & put a couple in the 'plant & rock tray' in our biofall. THESE ones are those that went crazy with blooms. Maybe it was being so close to the area that is 'force fed'? The ones a few feet away in the upper pool are HUGE/TALL, but only randomly blooming - it's those right over where the water is being pumped into that are going nuts.

I'll try the same experiment next year, but for now... I'll just enjoy the show!

 

[reefsr]

no blooms here in Mich, either, and we've had more than enough sun+humidity. I did put them in late and they were small; only now do they have any growth and spread to them but I've routinely had little luck getting them to bloom other than maybe a couple per bunch. Shame, as they really are great looking flowers.

Also in Michigan but practically all of my water hyacinth bloomed this year. Odd!

 

[brokensword]

Also in Michigan but practically all of my water hyacinth bloomed this year. Odd!

can you describe your exact setup? When placed, any additional fertilizing, crowded, etc? I know someone on GPF suggested they'd bloom more if placed more on the back/in wet soil as opposed to floating, so I tried that but so far no difference, imo.

 

[Lisak1]

Mine that can touch the gravel (ie in the shallow pool in our pondless waterfall) seem to bloom more frequently, but this year the ones in our patio pond have bloomed as well. I've never had one bloom in the actual pond though.

 

[Faebinder]

I’ve seen them bloom in PA at the nearby plant store. They just have to be in complete sun all the time.

 

[Kimberleyc]

Would love some of this but unfortunately its banned in uk

 

[Faebinder]

I personally dislike them. They enable mosquitoes to hide from fish.

 

[Lisak1]

I’ve seen them bloom in PA at the nearby plant store. They just have to be in complete sun all the time.

It has to be more than that. I've been growing them in the same three spots for years - sometimes they bloom, sometimes they don't.

I personally dislike them. They enable mosquitoes to hide from fish.

And couldn't you say the same about any plant? They aren't unique in any way when it comes to mosquitoes. Not trying to make you like them - just wondering why you singled them out as mosquito hiders!