Water Hyacinth
Too Much of a Good Thing...
Water hyacinth are familiar to most pond owners. They're the strange looking aquatic plants that simply float on the water surface. We love them because they are excellent for your pond. They can clear green water naturally and provide an abundant amount of shade for fish. Because they grow like mad, if you have them in your pond now, you are probably removing them by the bag full!
Even though they are a little miracle plant for the pond, during mid to late summer, they need to be monitored. Often times a customer will call us in a panic because they lost a lot of water over night. It is not uncommon to find out their water hyacinth have dammed up their waterfall and made it back flow out of the pond. Water hyacinth in a creek can also cause clogging making the water level rise above the liner.
Some tips about water hyacinth:
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| These hyacinth are about to cause a problem for this waterfall |
Water hyacinth are familiar to most pond owners. They're the strange looking aquatic plants that simply float on the water surface. We love them because they are excellent for your pond. They can clear green water naturally and provide an abundant amount of shade for fish. Because they grow like mad, if you have them in your pond now, you are probably removing them by the bag full!
Even though they are a little miracle plant for the pond, during mid to late summer, they need to be monitored. Often times a customer will call us in a panic because they lost a lot of water over night. It is not uncommon to find out their water hyacinth have dammed up their waterfall and made it back flow out of the pond. Water hyacinth in a creek can also cause clogging making the water level rise above the liner.
Some tips about water hyacinth:
- Water hyacinth multiply quickly in warm conditions. They're great for filtering in the waterfall but watch them daily.
- Do no let aquatic plants cover more than 50% of your pond.
- Floating plants in the skimmer can be harmful to your pump. They can clog the basket preventing water from reaching the pump. Keep floating plants out of the skimmer by using a floating plant ring. Simply tether the ring to the pond edge, place your floating plants in the ring and they will stay put. Of course we have floating plant rings here at Cool Ponds.
- As water hyacinth die back, their roots end up as "gunk" in the bottom of your pond. Keep decaying hyacinths out of your pond to prevent a build up later.
Remember that water hyacinth and water lettuce will all need to be removed from your pond before winter. But for now, let them grow and eat! They do a pond good!
Written by Cool Ponds Co-owner Staci
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