I am mystified by water hyacinths growth patterns and requirements. I have had these grow with 3" leaves 12" above the water. This year, they are small floating blobs with leaves hardly more than 3/4". Can anyone tell me what conditions would make these guys grow and bloom?
Water hyacinths culture
I plant my WH in my bogs and they bloom every year for me. If I have them in the pond, they don't survive the fish long enough to flower for me.
Oddly, being in Florida, where we dont usually deal with harsh winters, this is the first year that I've only now seen the first blooms, and it's already August.
This is the first year mine didn't winter over. I had ice on the surface of the pond twice this past winter and the WH's couldn't handle that . Then the water stayed cold for so much longer than it usually does.
I'm about 14 miles from Merry Mary in Fl. I have never had WH last longer than summertime.
They don't seem to do well in cool weather. Guess I should have took some out of pond and put them in protected place.
Bonnie D.
I live in a very protected spot along the marsh which holds and radiates heat well. Our ground never gets too cold and, with the exception of last winter, the pond water stays warmer. Over the years I've kept the WH's in there to provide cover while the lilies were dormant. They help to keep the water clear as I turn off the filter in the winter. A friend tell me the golf course ponds usually had them all winter here too.
It seems strange that someplace so much further north than central FL than is warmer but it all has to do with being on a sea island. Just a few miles inland the temperature and conditions are much different. For all it's worth, we are hot and super humid in the summer - not such a good thing.
Our climate in central Georgia requires that we treat water hyacinths as annuals. Even so, once we are beyond frost, the WHs can do well. My question is looking for the difference between the year that they grow like weeds and rise 12-16 " above water and bloom v. the year, like this one, when they sit there like small blobs and do nothing more. Can it be nutrition, water pH, or something I haven't thought of?
It does sound strange, they are normally so invasive. Do you have fish in this pond? If so, they should provide plenty of fertilizer for the wh's, they never need any supplemental feeding. If you have a tropical fish store nearby you could take a water sample in so they could check the pH for any problems. Let's hope it is just environmental due to our freaky winter. So many plants are not growing in a normal pattern this year.
For all it's worth, it is usually so hard to get rid of these things, that is why they are illegal. You may be on to a magic potion that municipalities, that pay a fortune to eradicate them, would pay big bucks for. :-)
Mine are not growing as much this year either. Our summer has been cooler though and we are still behind from the last winter.
I grow my WH in the biofalls container, about 2 ft X 4 ft. with pretty fast flow. Some years I would have to gather up an armload of them a couple of times in the season and just take them to the compost pile. Other years, like now, I just have little blobs. I have not checked pH, but I have no other symptoms to suggest too high or too low. I will check.
Seems to be we're all in the same boat this year with our WH, no matter where we live. I don't even see them in the swampy ditches like normal.
I buy 3-4 every year and must have over 100 so I gave a lot away. They are only 2.99 $ per plant. I also bought water lettuce but the kois are eating them.
Happy ponding!!!
Belle
Strange year this year. I have Japanese Iris that are flowering in my bog right now, and generally they are finished in the middle of June. These plants did take a while to come back from the winter too which is probably why they are delayed in flowering.
Mine have been growing well but no flowers so far this year! :(
It is starting to get cold and no flowers.
Belle