water lettuce and water hyacinth dying

[aaaeeerrr]

hi

as u can see im new and i came here to see if anyone can help me

i have some water lettuce and water hyacinth that im trying to reproduce so i can feed them to my turtles but my water lettuce and water hyacinth are dying specialy the hyacinth the leaves are turning brown and i think its lack of nourishment because my other lettuce are fine in another container with water from my filter clean ups

and my question is since my filter clean ups are not enough to all my plant i would like to ask if its all right to add some pig manure to the water without harming my plants

can anyone tell me?

thanks in advance

[Kisal]

I can't give you an answer. I grow both species of plants in my small outdoor ponds and have no trouble with them. The water hyacinth dies when the water freezes in the winter and has to be replaced when the weather warms up, but the water lettuce comes back on its own in the spring.

I have heard they are difficult to maintain in containers, such as aquariums. I investigated keeping a few plants over the winter indoors in an aquarium, but everything I read and everyone I spoke with advised me that it was quite difficult to do. They are actually "pond weeds" here where I live, and I've discovered that it's easy to find people giving them away.

I have no idea what type of container you're growing the plants in, but I sure wouldn't recommend adding any kind of manure to the water. If the container is big enough to support fish, you might add some of them. Their excreta might be sufficient to feed the plants. That's the only suggestion I have. My ponds have no fish, but frogs and other wild amphibians visit often.

If yours is a hydroponics or aquaponics system, I can move your question to our Hydroponics forum, if you like. You might get a good answer there.

[aaaeeerrr]

I can't give you an answer. I grow both species of plants in my small outdoor ponds and have no trouble with them. The water hyacinth dies when the water freezes in the winter and has to be replaced when the weather warms up, but the water lettuce comes back on its own in the spring.

I have heard they are difficult to maintain in containers, such as aquariums. I investigated keeping a few plants over the winter indoors in an aquarium, but everything I read and everyone I spoke with advised me that it was quite difficult to do. They are actually "pond weeds" here where I live, and I've discovered that it's easy to find people giving them away.

I have no idea what type of container you're growing the plants in, but I sure wouldn't recommend adding any kind of manure to the water. If the container is big enough to support fish, you might add some of them. Their excreta might be sufficient to feed the plants. That's the only suggestion I have. My ponds have no fish, but frogs and other wild amphibians visit often.

If yours is a hydroponics or aquaponics system, I can move your question to our Hydroponics forum, if you like. You might get a good answer there.

this was in june when it was hot here now the weather is starting to cool down and the leaves even the ones that are just apearing in the middle are starting to turn brown (by the way that is the container)



and my lettuce that i added later are not going so well either in this container :S



but the small ones in this one are growing fastttttttttttttttt it was only two but now there are six or seven and the leaves are not ruined and is in this container that a put the water from cleaning the filter

[PunkRotten]

My guess would be that they are lacking nutrients. Both water lettuce and water hyacinth suck nutrients like crazy. I am not even sure those containers are big enough to support one water hyacinth. You can try adding some tiny fish. Anything small and native to your area. Over here we got minnows, killifish, and gambusia (mosquito fish).

Occasionally I add some liquid aquarium fertilizer and it seems to help a little. It is called Flourish made by SeaChem.

[PunkRotten]

Another thing, I started with 2 water hyacinth and now have around 20. And I have gave away some and even composted lots of them too. I set up the pond this year and added them in Spring. But they never bloomed. I am hopping next year (if they survive the cold).

[Kisal]

I never add anything to my ponds, except for an occasional dose of algicide, so I can't say whether nutrients are a problem. My ponds have recirculating pumps, so the water is well oxygenated.

I do agree that the containers you are using seem small to support the plants. Rather than manure, perhaps you could add some fertilizer designed for hydroponic systems. There are even organic types, if you want to avoid synthetics. Just a suggestion.

[PunkRotten]

Kisal have you had yours bloom?

[Kisal]

Absolutely! They bloom every year, for most of the summer. I posted a pic on here somewhere. I'll see if I can find it. If not, I'm sure it's still in my photo bucket account.

Here it is!

[PunkRotten]

Do you have any idea why mine might have not bloomed? They got plenty of sun.

[Kisal]

I'm sorry. I really don't know. Very early every spring, I get new water hyacinths and put them in my ponds. Both of my ponds are in part shade, and both have pumps that recirculate the water. The ponds are only decorative, about a foot deep, and maybe 10X12 feet in length and width. I have tons of dragonflies and other water insects ... plus my visiting frogs ... that keep the mosquito population under control. I wish I had an answer for you. The water lettuce seems to winter over in the ponds without problems, so I don't have to get new ones every year.

[aaaeeerrr]

Another thing, I started with 2 water hyacinth and now have around 20. And I have gave away some and even composted lots of them too. I set up the pond this year and added them in Spring. But they never bloomed. I am hopping next year (if they survive the cold).

i had four of them and in winter i put them inside and they died now i have four new ones and the people that gave them to me said that in winter he keeps them outdoors but under some roof so thats what im doing lets see. people say they are invasive i say they are dificult to keep alive

[PunkRotten]

You are gonna have to do 1 of 2 things. Either get a bigger container, or add some tiny fish. They get invasive if they have the nutrients to do so. They also like full sun too.


I have a 55 gallon container and sometimes some of them show signs of nutrient deficiency. Although they reproduce too but not extremely fast. I am thinking the reason why mine did not bloom could be cause there was a low amount of phosphates. Like I said, they suck nutrients like crazy. That is one reason why people add them in ponds they do an excellent job of removing excess nutrients and battling algae.

[aaaeeerrr]

im going to do that add some type of small Gambusias

and if i add leaf litter to the water does it have nutrients? (because in my country those liquid aquarium fertilizer its too sophisticated for us )

[aaaeeerrr]

ive found a way to fertilize them with ground coffee i have another one in a container separeted from these and i have 250g of coffee and 20 to 25 litres of water and it is regaining its green leaves now im going to try coffee on the other ones too

[PunkRotten]

I think coffee grounds is mostly nitrogen. So it will probably give it lots of leaf growth but you won't get it to flower.

[aaaeeerrr]

now my concern is for them not to die flowers are secundary lol thanks

[Jaydenz]

I'm going to try to keep some alive in the winter inside too.
We have them in the pond every year and they get huge and make tons of flowers. They only have sunlight in the afternoon and they are in a big pond with a pump and fish. The pond is maybe 2 feet deep and as big as my bedroom and theres another kind of plant in it too that makes oxygen but I don't remember what the name is. Theres frogs in the pond too and another kind of flower that only has one petal. I don't remember what those are called but they look like elephant ears with smaller purple leafs.
This is one of our hyacinth plants.

[PunkRotten]

Nice. I brought 2 inside to keep them alive for next year. The ones outside are still alive, but looking deteriorated. If you got a pic of the other flowers/plants you are unsure of, post a pic I might be able to tell you what they are.

[Jaydenz]

Nice. I brought 2 inside to keep them alive for next year. The ones outside are still alive, but looking deteriorated. If you got a pic of the other flowers/plants you are unsure of, post a pic I might be able to tell you what they are.

Thanks! That was a picture mom took and i didn't take any pictures because i didn't know I would join a garden forum but I did a ton of googling and found this picture. This is exactly what ours looked like and now I know it's called Imperial Taro or Illustris.

[img]<a%20href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/73735303@N02/6665914567/"%20title="Pond%20plant%20by%20Jaydenz,%20on%20Flickr"><img%20src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6665914567_9e168a8053_z.jpg"%20width="640"%20height="563"%20alt="Pond%20plant"></a>[/img][/img]

[Jaydenz]

I can't edit my post to fix the picture so I'll have to do another post.

[PunkRotten]

Yeah those are nice. They grow nice at the ponds edge.

[TheRipeTomato]

Hyacinths bloom under stress. Lots of things cause stress; pH, change in nutrients, change in temperature, change in TDS levels, etc etc....

As for not living, being a water plant they are subject to TDS, pH, oxygen levels, and many other things. If they go yellow, they are aenimic and need nitrogen or iron. If they are going from green straight to brown, then the water is poisonous to them. Not in the chemical sense of the word, but in that the water is not within their range of tolerance. Its why they grow better in larger bodies of water...more of a buffer against inconsistencies.

[TheRipeTomato]

I can't edit my post to fix the picture so I'll have to do another post.

That is an Imperial Taro (Colocasia antiquorum).