Water Lettuce Question

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I just orderer a few water lettuce plants from someone on ebay. They are always described as fast spreading but just how fast do the spread? Does anyone have a good idea? These are not the miniature they are 4"-5"

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Jack
 
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Sorry for steeling this post but can they take direct sun all day? I noticed my leaves are always turning yellow/brown on the ends.

David
 

taherrmann4

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I have them in one of my creeks which is about 6" deep 24" wide. I put them in there around the first of May I think, and these were the smaller ones, started with about 12 the size of a quarter or smaller and they have now been covering the creek for the last month or so. I have been thinning them out every week. Mine have grown to the size of a baseball but they are the smaller ones. Now I did put in two of the large ones and they have gone gangbusters as well, must have about created 12 daughter plants already off each one and now those have daughters as well. I throw them into my pond and the fish nibble on their roots which severely limits their growth in the pond.

David mine take sun all day long.
 

sissy

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If they are turning yellow it is a lack of nutrients and you can give them a boost by putting them in a tote of water with some miracle grow and they should come back .Make sure you do not over fertilize as that will burn the roots ,just a tiny bit .
 

Neo

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If they are turning yellow it is a lack of nutrients and you can give them a boost by putting them in a tote of water with some miracle grow and they should come back .Make sure you do not over fertilize as that will burn the roots ,just a tiny bit .

Do you just rinse them in water before putting them back in the pond? I would think miracle grow wouldn't be great for fish (unless it made monster koi ;)) but I'm overly paranoid about what goes in the pond.
 

sissy

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No I leave them in the tote until they look healthy sometimes a week or 2 and by then the fertilizer is in the plant and then just toss them back in




 
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Jack, My water lettuce the size you mentioned will shoot off maybe 4 or 5 smaller ones every week or so. Then as those grow they will shoot off more babys. You will probably have about a dozen in a few weeks and they will continue to multiply. I decide how much of the pond I want them to cover and net out the extras every few days. I probably have around a hundred in my pond right now and keep it at about that number. Incidentally if you are looking to shade the water from the sun I think water hyacinth probably do that more because of the way their leaves come up. I have some of both in my pond.
 

mgannon

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Water lettuce and water hyacinth both rapidly reproduce. Sometimes the reproduction can get a little out of hand depending on nutrient levels in the particular pond and will need to be thinned out pretty often. These type of plants can sometimes cause problems with ponds that have skimmers if they are not secured in place somehow. They are GREAT container plants in micro water gardens. Hyacinth handles full sun better than lettuce since lettuc elikes a bit of shade. The yellowing on leaves could be from lack of nutrients or too much sun. I have seen lettuce get to be 12+ inches across sometimes!!
 
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Jack, These are a few pictures of my pond that I took today. I have some floaters as well as some other plants including lilies. Even though it has been brutally hot here my water never gets too warm with the plant cover. I try to follow the rule of thumb to cover it 70% in the summer. It's easier for me because I have only goldfish and they don't eat the plants.
 

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well then mine are not getting any bigger what gives? had them for 6 weeks no bigger than original.. maybe a tub with mircle grow is in order..
 

addy1

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I had water lettuce last year, the plant stayed exactly 2 inches all summer, skipped it this year.
 
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I don't know why my floaters grow so good. The main differences between my pond and some others is it only gets about 4-5 hours sun every day. It is in the shade from about 3:00 pm until the end of the day and only partial sun from early morning until about 12:00 PM. Also I have very wide shallow shelves that are less than 12 inches deep. I have heard that it helps when the roots are touching the liner. Also my ph is in the middle and not too high and I have a lot of moving water. I'm not sure what the key element is but everyday I have to remove about a dozen floaters or so and they grow like weeds!
 

addy1

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lol happy for you! I will just stick with my lilies and potted plants. I do have some floaters, but even they are not doing well, they grow but not massively, the stuff ce sent, she calls it creeping primrose.

It might be that the pond is in full unrelenting sun all day.
 

sissy

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Not sure but my floaters do great in the stock tank but not in the pond and actually almost had a pump burn out because of all roots that got trapped in it .
 

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