Water hyacinths don't bloom!

[Big Papa]

I have some questions about water hyacinths. I have quite a few, and I am not sure when they are supposed to bloom, I have not had even one bloom yet! They are reproducing like crazy but thats it! The other thing is that I have Jurassic lettuce as well and most of them look o.k. but a few of them have some yellowing leaves not sure if this is related or not, but do they need to be fertalized some way or do I just need to give them some time? Any help would be greatly apreciated!!!

 

[addy1]

They say the hottest part of the year, other say march to september.
Water hyacinths love to be crowded and even though they are floating plants, they don’t like to drift around. Corralling them with a hoop of plastic tubing, a hula-hoop, fishing line, or even rocks will keep them from moving around.

Water hyacinths in flower.

Water hyacinths usually bloom the most during the hottest part of the year and only if they are crowded. Each 6” to 12” flower spike lasts only one day and has 6 to 15 lavender flowers on it.

Yellowing hyacinths are a common problem and it is caused by lack of nutrients. Hyacinths are such vigorous growers they sometimes use up one or more nutrients in the pond. This can especially be a problem in very small ponds and ponds with very few fish. There are two ways of fertilizing your hyacinths. If you only have a few hyacinths, you can float them in a bucket of Miracle Grow for a few hours at a time. If you have too many hyacinths to remove from the pond, you can treat the entire pond with a solution of Muriate of Potash.
from the net, i don't have any

 

[Big Papa]

Thank you! I have have a roughly 6x12 pond (haven't ever actually measured it!) I currently have 8-2" goldfish in it and 1-2" koi i just put in! The hyacinths aren't yellowing as much as the lettuce might be normal but I don't know! The hyacinths tend to gather into one or two places in the pond because of the flow of the waterfall so I would say they are fairly crowded but I will look at this tonight when I get off work and evaluate! thank you so much for your always quick reply!! You are always so helpful! I have had the pond for two years and this is the first year with fish and plants in it so I am still learning lots!

 

[addy1]

Thank you! I have have a roughly 6x12 pond (haven't ever actually measured it!) I currently have 8-2" goldfish in it and 1-2" koi i just put in! The hyacinths aren't yellowing as much as the lettuce might be normal but I don't know! The hyacinths tend to gather into one or two places in the pond because of the flow of the waterfall so I would say they are fairly crowded but I will look at this tonight when I get off work and evaluate! thank you so much for your always quick reply!! You are always so helpful! I have had the pond for two years and this is the first year with fish and plants in it so I am still learning lots!

You are very welcome we are all learning every day! Glad I could help you.
I am learning to never build a big pond on a slope ever again! lol

 

[Big Papa]

I could see a few different ways that could create a few problems!!!

 

[addy1]

More than a few believe me! Have learned a lot, every foot of the stream, every edge of the pond has a different problem to deal with, because of the slope.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

I have dwarf hyacinth, much smaller than regular, but I have had just one flower on the oldest plant (the one transplant that they all came from. I assumed they needed a little more maturity, but the crowding makes good sense - when they are crowded, they produce seeds to spread to new areas. Usually with non water plants, I stress them a little by withholding water (if they think they're going to di, they flower to produce seed). Not possible with water plants, but crowding stress works too, I guess.

Good research, Addy. I don't think I could bring myself to fertilize hyacinth, though. Just sayin'.

 

[WarrenBeaule]

More than a few believe me! Have learned a lot, every foot of the stream, every edge of the pond has a different problem to deal with, because of the slope.

I wish I had your problem! A few years ago I built a smallish 5000 gallon pond with a 45’ X4’W and roughly 12-24” deep stream flowing from a 1500 gallon reflecting pool with a 4’ high waterfall at 10,000 per hour . When I started my yard was totally flat and I thought all I would need for fill was the sand from the pond and the rock that I purchased. I ended up having to order large stone and river rock & river pebbles 3 times to get the water movement to keep up with the pumps. It’s a thing of beauty now but I wayyy under estimated the cost of equipment rental (high hoe) and stone. It’s amazing to watch it mature with plants and the wild life it brings in. The fish have grown exponentially! I have 25 Japanese koi and my wife and daughters threw in 10 gold fish that have turned into I don’t know how many. Anyhoooo sorry for carrying on for so long, I just can’t help myself. It drew me in and I’m pond addicted now. “I might have a problem”

 

[WarrenBeaule]

I have dwarf hyacinth, much smaller than regular, but I have had just one flower on the oldest plant (the one transplant that they all came from. I assumed they needed a little more maturity, but the crowding makes good sense - when they are crowded, they produce seeds to spread to new areas. Usually with non water plants, I stress them a little by withholding water (if they think they're going to di, they flower to produce seed). Not possible with water plants, but crowding stress works too, I g

Good research, Addy. I don't think I could bring myself to fertilize hyacinth, though. Just sayin'.

All you have to do to feed them is just increase your fish feed. If you’re feeding twice a day, feed three or four times and the lettuce and hyacinth will fix themselves. My pond is kidney shaped, I put a 2500 gallon per hour pump with just a 1.5 inch outlet on the bottom of the pond pumping straight up. It keeps all the hyacinth in the one lobe of the pond and very happy. I’m simply a novice but it works for me. I also have a stream and waterfall flowing into my pond. We have koi as well as goldfish in our pond and over the years have realized that better quality fish food reduces fish waste significantly. We use Saki Hikari so we feed 4 times a day. When I first started I used a pet store food and I only had to feed twice a day. The filter media suffered and the fish colours were not nearly as brilliant. The pond was almost work more than fun. With that one simple change my whole ecosystem improved significantly and not just the pond. The frogs, birds, rabbits and deer are amazing to watch from the deck.

 

[j.w]

@WarrenBeaule

 

[Lisak1]

@WarrenBeaule your advice is contradictory. First you say increasing how much you feed will feed the hyacinths which would indicate MORE fish waste. Then you say you use a higher quality fish food because it creates LESS fish waste. So which is it?

In any case, overfeeding fish isn't going to put blooms on water hyacinths. How do I know? Because I've fed my fish the same amount over the years and some years I get mulitple blooms, some years I get none. I think they're just slightly picky about how and why they bloom. I've had some that looked perfectly anemic bloom and some that were deep green and vigorous that never bloomed. Crowding them does seem to help, as does keeping them in a shallow area of the pond where the roots are able to anchor the plant. But even that has never been 100% reliable for me.

Observation over a number of ponding seasons may prove to be useful for you.

 

[WarrenBeaule]

@WarrenBeaule your advice is contradictory. First you say increasing how much you feed will feed the hyacinths which would indicate MORE fish waste. Then you say you use a higher quality fish food because it creates LESS fish waste. So which is it?

In any case, overfeeding fish isn't going to put blooms on water hyacinths. How do I know? Because I've fed my fish the same amount over the years and some years I get mulitple blooms, some years I get none. I think they're just slightly picky about how and why they bloom. I've had some that looked perfectly anemic bloom and some that were deep green and vigorous that never bloomed. Crowding them does seem to help, as does keeping them in a shallow area of the pond where the roots are able to anchor the plant. But even that has never been 100% reliable for me.

Observation over a number of ponding seasons may prove to be useful for you.

You should read again, it’s not contradictory in any way.

 

[Lisak1]

More food; less food. More waste; less waste. Direct contradiction.