Water Lettuce and Hyacinth

[Denon]

I bought three water lettuce plants about a month ago. My pond sits in full fun. In that month the root system has increased 5 fold. The roots extend down almost to the bottom of my pond (About 18 inches) and are really full. My fish love swimming in and out of them. Unfortunately the outer large leaves are all dying back. They appear to be growing new smaller plants but nowhere near the size of the older ones. Anyone have any experience with them?

Also I bought a large Water Hyacinth plant. It too is growing new baby plants. My question for this one is not only do I get full sun I also have a lot of wind. I find it tipped over many times or pushed up against the side walls. It appears to "stretch" itself out and put some leaves in the water to hold itself upright. Is this normal? Should I somehow anchor it to the side of the pond? For now I laid a stick across a leaf to get it to stay in place. I attached some pictures of the plants as well as some fish

 

[mrtrumpet]

My water hyacinth tend to right themselves too. And when left out of the floating planter they tend to end up in the skimmer. But it's funny. I think they actually do better growth-wise when left in the skimmer for a few days. Maybe they like shade better than sun??

 

[sissy]

hyacinth love sun but water lettuce does not like as much sun .You can take them out and put them in a tub of miracle grow to boost them .I have even started adding some epsom salts to the tub so I can boost growth so i can give them to other ponders

 

[Big Lou]

I placed about 3" rocks in my pots to keep them upright. Perfect solution for me.

 

[bfull1478]

As Sissy stated water hyacinths love the sun. Water lettuce prefer more shade than sun. I am pretty sure they are getting too much. Do you have any way to shade them?

 

[mgmine]

I loosely tie some fishing line around the water lettuce and put a nut on the end for an anchor. This stops the lettuce from floating into the skimmer but still lets it float around the pond.

 

[Smaug]

hyacinth love sun but water lettuce does not like as much sun .You can take them out and put them in a tub of miracle grow to boost them .I have even started adding some epsom salts to the tub so I can boost growth so i can give them to other ponders

What do pictures of lilys have to do with Hyacinth and water lettuce?

 

[Denon]

Thanks everyone. I really like the "anchor idea". I am going to try that tonight. I think eventually I will have too many lilly pad leaves and they will not have room to move much anyways

As far as shade, there is none now although I guess I could create some sort of shade cloth in one section. I guess I bought both plants before I really knew their requirements. I guess I could also let the Hyacinth and lilies take off and slowly remove the lettuce. I just know my fish really liked the large extensive roots the lettuce had.

 

[sissy]

They are anchored and not planted in the lily pond and they can get miracle grow just thrown in there .This way all I have to do is pull them out and move them to the basement come winter just like my hyacinth

 

[Smaug]

They are anchored and not planted in the lily pond and they can get miracle grow just thrown in there .This way all I have to do is pull them out and move them to the basement come winter just like my hyacinth

Cool.

 

[sissy]

But the big problem is the air stone in there it shoves the lily to one side of the pond and roots come up and I have tried the air stone in every spot in there including the center of the pond .the pond is just 2 feet deep .I take the air stone out and algae starts to form .Tried a smaller air stone and still problems .I can't keep them in the pond the fish destroy the lilies .

 

[njdevilfire]

What do pictures of lilys have to do with Hyacinth and water lettuce?

Lol!!!

 

[j.w]

@njdevilfire

This is a very old thread. Hey if you have a pond we'd love to see it

 

[Bluerooster]

When I can get them, I usually get about two of each. By summers end I have a bazillion of each. They are interesting plants, and grow like crazy here.