Eichornia is a water hyacinth. Planting and caring for water hyacinth

Water hyacinth is found in the wild in rivers South America and in Asian countries. Very often, Eichornia is a real problem because it takes over the entire water surface.

Eichornia is in many ways reminiscent of the familiar bright hyacinths that bloom in flower beds. It feels great and grows quickly in a warm pond where there is a lot of organic matter. Water hyacinth is almost continuously covered with flowers and is a perennial crop.

The flower is held on the surface of the water by petioles, which consist of light, “airy” tissue.

Peduncles emanate from the center of a lush, juicy rosette. The inflorescence stays on the plant for only a day. The powerful roots of Eichornia can grow up to 50 cm.

Features and difficulties of growing

Eichornia excellent can grow well in a pond on personal plot, if you create suitable conditions for it. Despite its exotic origin, special care this plant does not require. The main thing is that there is a lot of organic matter in the water.

Flower growth directly depends on nutrients, so it is useful to add to the water:

• mullein;
• compost;
• complex compositions and mixtures for feeding aquarium plants.

Water with a slightly alkaline reaction is excellent for growing eichornia. The plant is not at all afraid of even harmful impurities that are harmful to other crops.

Eichornia roots are very strong, powerful, and absorbing nutrients well, they also process harmful components along with them. Very often, water hyacinth is used to grow in sedimentation tanks to purify water.

We must not forget that water hyacinth is very thermophilic and loves bright sun. Therefore, you need to plant a flower in the spring so that it has time to take root well before the onset of the first cold weather. The culture tolerates temperature changes very hard.

Planting Eichornia excellent in a pond or aquarium

Eichornia – beautiful plant for ponds in private plots and parks. It can also be grown in a home aquarium, in which it is much easier to create conditions as close as possible to the natural habitat of the flower.

Planting water hyacinth is carried out as follows:

1. First, the rosette is separated and placed in an aquarium with warm water. It is necessary to provide the plant with good lighting.
2. There must be a lot of nutrients in the water.
3. If the hyacinth feels bad in a new place, then with the opening of new leaves, the old ones will inevitably begin to die off.
4. If the climate turns out to be favorable, that is, the flower is light and warm, then it will begin to develop very quickly. The roots will begin to grow, and around May the first young rosette will appear.
5. If the plant grows in an aquarium, then it is no longer touched. If you plan to transfer them to the pond into fresh air, then this should be done in June.

The process of planting water hyacinth is extremely simple - the plant is simply placed on water.

Hyacinth can be planted in an aquarium in a warm room in winter, but the plant is moved outside only in summer.

Plant care rules

It is advisable that the air temperature be around +24 ºС. When this indicator drops to +20 ºС, the plant will stop blooming. At low temperatures the water hyacinth will try to survive. It is also important for him that there is at least 14 hours of daylight.

When grown in an aquarium, the flower should be constantly trimmed. It is important to carry out the procedure with gloves, as the plant juice can cause severe irritation.

Throughout the summer, when growing a crop in a pond, its dead petioles are removed. They are clearly visible because they become sluggish, causing the plant to lose its decorative effect.

It should be noted that water hyacinth is very afraid of drafts. To prevent the reservoir from being blown through, you need to plant bushes or vertical plants on the shore.

Throughout the season, care is taken to ensure that there are enough nutrients in the water to ensure good growth and flowering for the crop.

Propagation of water hyacinth

Propagating a flower is simple - the rosettes are separated and transferred to a new location. This can be done throughout the season.

Interestingly, with short daylight hours, the plant begins to actively grow green mass, which can be used to obtain a lot of planting material.

Eichornia is also propagated by seeds, but this method is very labor-intensive, time-consuming and not popular.

How to Preserve an Aquatic Plant in Winter

Growing water hyacinth requires creating suitable conditions for wintering, because it needs warmth.

With the arrival of cold days, water hyacinth should be moved to an artificial pond indoors. Any container, such as a home aquarium, can serve as a container. To fill, take the water in which the plant grew during the summer. You can add silt to the bottom so that the eichornia takes root well.

• It is important to consider that in winter you no longer need such heat. It is enough if the room is about +20 ºС.
• But the water must be warm.
• Eichornia must be illuminated in winter so that the sockets do not die. Daylight hours should last 14 hours.
• The room should not be stuffy, as water hyacinth loves fresh air. In this case, you need to ensure that there are no drafts in the room.
• It is imperative to control evaporation, since the culture does not like it very much high humidity air.
• Eichornia should not starve in winter. Therefore, organic matter and fertilizers are added to the water throughout the winter.

The magnificent, bright flowering of Eichornia excellent in a pond on a personal plot can become its main highlight. However, owners should not forget about one thing significant disadvantage this unpretentious plant– it grows very quickly, which can cause the death of other inhabitants of the reservoir. Therefore, periodically, water hyacinth must be mercilessly thinned out.

09.08.2012

The plant in question has already appeared on our market. Until recently, it was generally considered a curiosity that could only be grown in a southern climate. And, nevertheless, the most desperate lovers of exoticism have already dared to place it in their pond. Eichornia, or water hyacinth, is a flower amazing in its beauty and unusual properties.

Full name of the plant - Eichornia pachypodina, also known as beautiful or excellent Eichhornia crassipes. This type is used to design garden ponds. Its lilac-blue flowers resemble real hyacinth, which is why it is called water hyacinth (or water hyacinth).

The plant's homeland is the tropical regions of South America. There it forms continuous thickets, covering the surface of the water with large floating leaves. During the flowering season, the reservoirs fascinate with their beauty. Delicate fragrant flowers hover above the lush green leaves, repeating the shades of the sky.

Water hyacinth is decorative even without flowers. Its glossy round leaves with unusual swellings at the base attract attention. Thanks to these “inflatable” petioles, the plant floats on water. Inside the sheet there is a porous structure that resembles a foam sponge.

Taking over the world

Now Eichornia grows in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The history of its spread throughout the world is rapid and is associated with a tense, almost catastrophic situation. And it was like this.

In 1884, at the Texas Cotton Exposition, a pond was installed to decorate the interior. Floating in it was a strange plant from Venezuela with emerald leaves and elegant lilac-purple inflorescences. To attract visitors, they organized a sale of this rarity.

Visitors to the exhibition willingly bought Eichornia rosettes for their ponds and swimming pools. The plant multiplied surprisingly quickly, and the happy owners gave the “babies” to friends or simply released them into the nearest body of water.

But soon general admiration gave way to anxiety. It turned out that the rapid reproduction of the plant is not a blessing at all, but a threat to water bodies. One rosette produced up to 1 thousand offspring in two months, each of which also began to divide. It is not difficult to calculate that in 3-4 months one plant turned into a million, and in six months - into a trillion copies!

Fantastic? Nothing like this. This is just an example of the thoughtless transfer of a living organism to a foreign environment. The plant finds itself in conditions where it has no natural enemies (insects and diseases).

Thus, water hyacinth turned from a beautiful plant into a “green plague”. Like a malicious weed, it colonized water bodies, interfering with navigation, fishing and the settlement of birds. It clogged irrigation canals and flooded rice fields. For the peasants, this simply threatened them with starvation. It seemed impossible to stop the advance of eichornia. Even hippos did not have time to eat it, it multiplied so quickly. Over the course of several decades, Eichornia has filled the water bodies of Africa, Australia, and Asia. Huge amounts of money were spent on fighting it, and all in vain.

Science saved the day. To combat the green alien, natural enemies were brought in: special weevils, a herbivorous mite, and a moth. After it was proven that these creatures, except for eichornia, could not eat anything else, they were taken to all countries where the “green plague” was rampant.

Bad experience was not in vain. In some countries, eichornia began to be used as fertilizer and for livestock feed. And in India they even developed a method for producing paper from water hyacinth.

Exotics in our gardens

Despite the aggressive nature of eichornia, gardeners value it very much decorative properties. Moreover, central Russia is not the tropics. There is no threat of our water bodies being captured. On the contrary, Eichornia perfectly purifies water, so you can safely release it into garden ponds. In summer the plant is comfortable, and it even blooms. However, in cool summers it may be limited to only leaves. For eichornia to bloom, the pond must be in the sunniest place.

The plant's reproduction rate is much more modest than in the tropics. During the season, one rosette produces from two to several dozen “babies”. They separate easily and grow quickly. In summer it is not difficult to keep eichornia. You just need to keep in mind that you shouldn’t grow many plants in a small pond. The fact is that the roots of Eichornia are very long and branched, with many lateral “hairs”. In water they form a kind of mesh through which water is passed and all organic impurities are caught. In this way they purify the water. But if there are a lot of hyacinths, then in such a “net” there is no room left for other plants, for example, lovely water lilies.

Wintering

Eichornia - tropical plants. Unlike water lilies, which can overwinter in a cool cellar, they require warm maintenance. Without waiting for frost, they are placed in a vessel with water and placed in a bright room at a temperature of 15-22C. In the autumn-winter period, additional lighting is desirable. Water hyacinth can also live in an aquarium that is already equipped with additional lighting.

Sometimes children separated from mother plant, developed asymmetrically. In water, some of their leaves sink, and some are supported by pot-bellied petioles. To prevent the leaves from rotting, a foam “lifebuoy” is put on the plants.

In spring, water hyacinth is transferred to the pond when the water has already warmed up. With this content, it will delight you with emerald greenery and lovely blue flowers.

Mud lover

The roots of an adult eichornia resemble a thick, long beard; in our reservoirs they can reach 1 m or more. In shallow water, plants take root, in depth they float freely.

Scientists have discovered that these roots process a variety of organic pollutants, including petroleum products, at amazing speeds. This best recommendations for the use of water hyacinth in wastewater treatment plants. It turned out that the plant is so effective that its cultivation is justified even in Siberian conditions. In fact, the dirtier the pond, the better the hyacinth does!

For several years now, Eichornia has been “working” at the treatment facilities of NPO Virion, at the sanatorium-preventorium “Zapovednoye” and at some industrial enterprises. To the project treatment facilities it was necessary to make additions and equip them with floating greenhouses, where eichornia are kept in winter without interruption from production. The calculations were correct: the construction of greenhouses is economically beneficial, since plants replace complex technical installations for water purification.

In a garden pond, water hyacinth also plays the role of an oxygenator plant. Due to the fact that there is little organic matter in a pond cleaned by Eichornia, the water almost never blooms. We can say that Eichornia is a kind of “vacuum cleaner” for a pond. Considering that it also blooms beautifully, the plant deserves attention and the hassle associated with wintering.

M.B. Sharova, biologist

An unpretentious plant of natural and artificial warm reservoirs - water hyacinth - can feel equally good both in aquariums and in its natural habitat. Reproduction and planting of water hyacinth is accessible even to inexperienced amateurs. He began his victorious march across countries and continents from the subtropics of South Africa. There, eichornia (this is the second name of the perennial) felt good in small standing reservoirs. Water hyacinth forms rosettes of bright leaves on petioles on the surface of the water, ending at the base with voluminous cavities filled with air.

During the flowering period, amazing flower stalks are formed on it, reminiscent in shape and color of orchid flowers. Despite the name, Eichornia does not belong to the hyacinth family; the whole point is the similarity of the flower arrow with the peduncles of the plant of the same name.

The extraordinary vitality of water hyacinth and its ability to reproduce in as soon as possible have become a real disaster in those areas of the globe where it came artificially and where there are no insect species that naturally regulated the number of water invaders in the region of its origin. Its undeniable advantages include its ability to purify water from harmful impurities, as well as the fact that perennials require minimal care. Water hyacinth can sanitization even reservoirs at wastewater treatment facilities.

How to plant eichornia?

In its homeland, the perennial reproduces in 2 ways:

1. separation of young rosettes from the mother one;
2. seeds.

Since the seeds ripen at temperatures above +35⁰C, for the regions of southern Russia and middle zone planting in this way has no practical value.

In natural habitat seed propagation eichornia occurs as follows:

1. after flowering, ripened seeds fall into the water from a spontaneously ruptured seed capsule;
2. in warm climates, the seeds germinate and produce many young specimens.

In cool water, the seeds quickly rot and become unviable.

Vegetatively, water hyacinth reproduces in a similar way to garden strawberries - by separating the “babies” from the mother plant. Their growth is especially active during decreasing daylight hours. In a month, this water “incubator” is capable of producing up to 100 daughter shoots, which do not require scrupulous care at all. Planting eichornia is not very difficult - the rosettes are simply separated, keeping small roots on them, and placed in a new pond.

Separate daughter plants with gloves, as eichornia juice contains cyanide acid, which causes itchy skin.

The best time for breeding is early summer. Subject to optimal conditions As the young rosette grows, roots begin to grow and new leaves appear. The growth of vegetative mass occurs more actively if the water in the new reservoir contains impurities for growth and development young plant– organic or mineral fertilizers.

How to care for water hyacinth?

By organizing optimal care for water hyacinth, you can count on lush flowering. Although the flower lasts only one day, when large quantities You can admire the delightful spectacle of hyacinths for a long time. Coming from tropical forests, Eichornia loves sunlight. It is the abundance of sun that stimulates it to bloom. In shade and partial shade, it will be able to grow and reproduce with the help of children, but flowering in such lighting cannot always be achieved.

Temperature

In its homeland, water hyacinth grows in a fairly hot climate; it prefers temperatures of at least 22⁰C for its growth and reproduction. Optimal time for planting plants in open reservoirs in the middle zone - June; in the south, planting can be done a month and a half earlier - at the end of April, in May.

During growth, eichornia prefers temperatures from +25 to +27⁰C; flowering specimens require even more heat. A sharp difference between night and day thermometer values ​​is detrimental to hyacinth. Winter care should ensure its temperature is not lower than +15⁰C.

Composition of water and fertilizing

Plants become especially beautiful when grown in water rich in organic substances. In natural lakes, these impurities are formed naturally; in artificial reservoirs, additives are added purposefully. When constructing a new decorative pond, there is no fertilizing in the water, therefore, in order to achieve wild flowering collections of water hyacinths, it is worth adding at least a complex mixture to the water. Over time, the amount of organic matter in the water will increase, and fertilizing will have to be done less often.

Adding a superphosphate solution to the water will help the withering specimen of the transplant quickly reach its optimal shape.

Fertilizer for Eichornia:

• bottom silt;
• humus;
• infusion of mullein or compost;
• complex mineral fertilizers for aquatic plants.

A plant that has received such care is distinguished by developed rosettes and powerful roots that reach the bottom of the reservoir. The roots of the plant act as a kind of filter; they purify the water from toxic substances that have entered it: metal salts, insecticides, phenols. This property of eichornia can be useful for owners of a stocked reservoir to keep the water in it clean.

True, there is another danger here - the surface of the water, covered with powerful rosettes, will deprive the fish of oxygen. You can get out of this situation if you constantly regulate the number of eichornia specimens on the water surface.

Wintering

The succulent parts of water hyacinth will not tolerate even a minimal drop in temperature below 0⁰C. To preserve the plant until the next season, you need to create suitable conditions and provide optimal care.

Water hyacinth overwinters:

• in aquarium;
• in wet sand;
• in a glass container;
• in the silt.

Keep eichornia away from drafts during wintering. However, the plant will not be able to fully exist without access fresh air, therefore its contents are completely closed space terrarium type is unacceptable.

For wintering to be successful, you need to follow a few simple rules.

• The water should be exactly the same as in the “native” reservoir. In extreme cases, water hyacinth can overwinter in pre-settled water. Caring for the plant will be much easier if you can stock up on water for the whole winter.
• At the bottom of the container for wintering you need to put silt to feed the roots of the plant.
• Landing for winter storage should be carried out in a transparent container: aquarium, glass container.
• To nourish the plant in winter, you need to dissolve a complex fertilizer for aquarium plants in water.
• Lighting for eichornia is desirable, but not required - it is quite capable of overwintering on the windowsill on the south side of the room. However, for excellent health, it is worth providing the plant with 12 hours of daylight using a fluorescent lamp.
• Prevent rotting lower leaves Planting the plant for the winter on a foam “raft” will help.
• During wintering, water hyacinth is content with room temperature.

Lovers of aquatic flora can easily provide winter care for eichornia planted in wet sand or silt. It is best if it is placed in transparent containers. In regions with mild and warm winter Water hyacinth overwinters well in an ordinary water barrel placed in a heated greenhouse.

After a properly wintered plant, it is placed in a pond, where it quickly grows leaves, throws out a peduncle by August and delights aesthetic lovers with exotic flowers.

Water hyacinth, green plague or eichornia - all these names and nicknames belong to one plant, amazing and unique. This flower fascinates with its pristine beauty.

Description and features of the flower

This plant seems to glide across the surface of the water, attracting the attention of fish and other inhabitants of the reservoir. Its leaves form a rosette. At the same time, inside the swellings there is air-bearing tissue that acts as floats, thanks to which the plant stays stable on the surface. If water hyacinth grows at a distance from other plants, then the swellings resemble real air bubbles, which prevent small ripples and waves from tipping it into the water. When there are many other brethren around it, there is no need for such protection, and the swellings become much smaller in size. As a result, they acquire an elongated, bottle-shaped shape.

All inflorescences are violet-blue or yellow-pink in color, somewhat similar to those growing on garden plots. The petals of this plant have dark blue spots, and the middle of the flower is decorated with six stamens. In conditions wildlife by pollination, forming a three-locular capsule containing seeds inside. During the period when the water level in the rivers decreases, they disperse, after which they settle on the silt, where they sprout.

In order for water hyacinth to bloom, it needs an open body of water illuminated by the sun. This flower simply cannot do without bright colors. sun rays. The optimal summer temperature for it is +27 degrees.

An adult plant has about 10 leaves. During the flowering period, a peduncle grows from the very center of the rosette, on which an inflorescence is formed (from 5 to 12 flowers).

Water and some of its features

Very often bred in home reservoirs, ponds and aquariums. After planting them, you must ensure that the water is always clean and transparent, otherwise the flower may simply die. If the water becomes cloudy, this indicates that the density of the soil in the pots in which the roots were placed is low, so they need to be transplanted into denser soil. After planting, watch the water hyacinth grow. Its flowering period is only one day. In the photos presented in our article, hyacinth is captured in its prime.

After you have planted sufficient quantity aquatic plants, one of the main tasks remains to monitor the healthy appearance of the reservoir. Coastal and coastal zone It should not grow too much; all excess plants must be removed in time. At the beginning of spring, the water may turn green, as it develops at this time. To avoid this, you can plant egg capsules that will fill the water with the necessary oxygen. If there are trees near the water, then do not forget to clear the pond of leaves, otherwise an excess of them can lead to the death of aquatic plants.

At first glance, it may seem that caring for an artificial pond is something impossible. But when you dilute water hyacinth in it, you will understand that everything is not so difficult, and the result is worth it!

If you want to decorate an aquarium in your apartment or an artificial pond on your property, water hyacinth is the best choice for this purpose. suitable plant. In the article we will look at the features of planting a flower and caring for it in summer and winter.

Water hyacinth or eichornia is a plant native to the tropical regions of South America. As the name suggests, the flower grows in water. In nature, it settles in natural bodies of water - ponds, lakes, and adorns the banks of ditches and swamps. Hyacinth needs standing, calm water, so you won’t find it near flowing bodies of water.

External characteristics

Water hyacinth has a wonderful decorative appearance. The plant boasts dense, bright green petiole-type leaves: one leaf sometimes reaches 20 cm in diameter. The peculiarity of the foliage is that, gathering into a dense rosette, it holds the plant on the surface of the water. Interesting detail: if a flower grows in restless water, exposed to gusts of wind, its petioles will be thick. If the water is calm, without ripples, the petioles become long and graceful.

One stem produces about 10-15 buds - quite large and bright. The color of the petals can be any shade from the pink-violet spectrum: sometimes pale pink, sometimes deep lilac. In addition to the wonderful appearance The buds also emit a subtle aroma.

In our climate, eichornia blooms only in summer. The peduncle is located in the very middle of the leaf rosette: the bud blooms slowly, gradually becoming more attractive and fragrant. The delicate coloring of the petals looks advantageous against the background of uniform green foliage (see photo).

One bud blooms for just a day, after which a seed pod forms in its place. After ripening, the seeds fall into the water, where further independent reproduction of flowers occurs. But this is only possible if the water temperature is at +26 degrees, not lower.

The plant remarkably purifies pond water, removing harmful compounds from it, heavy metals. Hyacinth makes water clear and eliminates the unpleasant musty smell.

But note that if in artificial conditions we grow eichornia as decorative flower, then in the wild it is a real weed for the local population. The fact is that water hyacinth grows at an amazing speed in warm and organic-rich water, quickly filling the entire space of the reservoir. Sometimes, for this property, the plant is also called “water plague.”

When it blooms

The plant is accustomed to warm, semi-tropical living conditions: in nature, the average temperature in the place of their main growth is approximately +26 degrees. In this way, water hyacinth can bloom in its natural environment almost all year round.

But in our climate, such conditions cannot be imagined for a plant - especially when it comes to open space. Therefore, water hyacinth will bloom in artificial conditions when the temperature rises to +28 degrees. If the temperature drops to +22 degrees and below, flowering stops.

Based on these features, growing water hyacinth north of the black earth regions is a very dubious undertaking. There will be greenery, of course, but buds are unlikely to appear. In the south of our country, the plant blooms for quite a long time.

Features of cultivation

Water hyacinth is a very capricious and demanding plant, therefore it is necessary to approach its planting and growing conditions responsibly and seriously. If we are talking about the southern regions, you can grow a flower both outside in a pond and at home in an aquarium; if we mean more northern regions, then only in an aquarium. Next, we will consider the features of both growing methods.

In the pond

If you decide to breed eichornia in an outdoor pond, take care to create conditions as close as possible to the natural environment. The most important thing for a flower is warm water, rich in organic matter, minerals, vitamins. Before planting, it is recommended to fertilize the water with compost or humus. The pond does not require preliminary cleaning, since water hyacinth itself is capable of decomposing harmful substances into its component parts and get rid of them.

If there is a choice, it is recommended to choose a pond with slightly alkaline water - but this parameter is not critical. The main thing is the temperature of the reservoir: hyacinth can develop and bloom normally only at a temperature of +24-30 degrees. It is important that the pond is well lit and not in the shade.

In aquarium

If speak about room conditions, then in this case it is possible to grow eichornia even in cold regions. You can easily regulate the water temperature in the aquarium - the most important condition for the flower to exist.

However, this case also has its disadvantages. The main one is that the aquarium should be of decent size: small space water hyacinth will not be able to develop normally. In addition, since there is limited natural light indoors, it is necessary to take care of the artificial lighting of the aquarium.

Landing

Let's find out how to plant water hyacinth.

The first step is to separate the rosette, the daughter shoot, from the mother plant. The separated part is placed in a pond with warm water - it can be an ordinary small aquarium. Provide the plant with good nutrition and lighting. If a flower feels bad, it will demonstrate this by dying off the foliage. Take measures immediately, increasing daylight hours or temperature, introducing fertilizing.

IN favorable conditions Young eichornia develops very quickly. Its roots grow, and the plant soon acquires its own rosette of foliage.

At further cultivation In the aquarium, the usual standard care follows. If you plan to transplant the hyacinth outside into a pond, then you should do this at the beginning of summer, when warm weather sets in. Transplantation is quite simple: the hyacinth is simply transferred to the surface of the pond and is not touched again.

How to care

Let's find out what kind of care Eichornia requires when growing it in a pond or aquarium.

Temperature

It is very important, as already said, to support optimal temperature water and air. If it drops below +24 degrees, this is fraught with loss of health and the ability of the plant to bloom and develop. Note that water hyacinth can survive at temperatures of +10-20 degrees, however, in this case there will be no flowering.

Lighting

For normal life, water hyacinth requires a lot of light: the duration of daylight should be at least 14 hours.

Trimming

Do not forget about pruning the plant, as hyacinth multiplies quite quickly. It is especially important to remember this procedure when growing in an aquarium where fish also live. If the flower grows too much, there will simply be no room left for the fish.

To prevent strong growth from occurring, it is recommended to immediately remove the resulting horizontal shoots. Remember that the pruning procedure is performed only with gloves, since water hyacinth juice has toxic properties and can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions.

In summer, it is also necessary to trim dead leaf petioles, since otherwise the pond will quickly become clogged. You can easily understand which of the petioles have died: they stand out against the background of the main foliage dark color and lethargy. Also, thin out the plantings from time to time, since eichornia grows uncontrollably in favorable conditions.

Top dressing

Water hyacinth will develop and bloom well only in “fertile”, saturated water. nutrients. To fertilize water, it is recommended to regularly add the following substances to it:

• compost;
• mullein;
• complex minerals for aquarium plants;

When moving a plant to a new pond, add a little superphosphate to the water.

Wintering

The main difficulty when growing water hyacinth in a pond is our Russian winter - surviving it in natural conditions tropical flower fails. A strong cold snap is a huge stress for a plant, so the first task of a gardener at this time is to help survive harsh times.

When the temperature drops below +15 degrees, hyacinth must be removed from the pond. Try to prevent the plant from freezing, as in this case the eichornia may die. The most convenient way to catch a flower from a pond is with a net.

Place it in a large container filled with water from the same pond and move it indoors. Lighting in winter should be maintained at a minimum of 10 light hours.

It is important in winter to monitor the temperature of the water in the container, maintaining it at +20 degrees. In addition, the flower must be provided required quantity fresh air, while being protected from drafts.

Don't forget to fertilize the plant to help it survive the winter safely. The container must be placed at a distance from heating radiators, since eichornia does not tolerate dry air well. It is forbidden to cover the top of the container; it is also forbidden to remove hyacinth from aquatic environment for a long time.

Important: if within winter period you noticed that the flower began to lose its foliage, which means it doesn’t have enough light. In this case, hang an additional lamp above the container.

Features of reproduction

In nature, a flower reproduces without any labor, easily and quickly. But even under artificial conditions, reproduction is also not a very complicated procedure. There are opinions that this process is very similar to reproduction garden strawberries mustache: water hyacinth also multiplies with the help of daughter shoots.

Under favorable conditions in summer, water hyacinth increases its population at an unprecedented pace, forming up to 100 new young plants per month. You can help him by plucking him in time. mother bush daughter shoot and transplanting the latter to another place.

If you don’t have your own hyacinths yet, seed propagation is also possible. But this procedure is fraught with difficulties, the main of which is ensuring that the seeds remain for a long time at a temperature of +35 degrees.

Diseases and pests

This plant is distinguished by good health and its diseases are exclusively a consequence of improper maintenance or care. As for pests, the danger to hyacinth is mainly the weevil. But even this pest will not be able to cause any tangible harm to the plant.

Pay attention to the appearance of the plant. If suspicious dark spots appear on the leaves, this may indicate a cold in the hyacinth due to drafts or lack of fresh air.

If the spots have multiplied and acquired a dark brown tint, this symptom may indicate rotting of the roots. You can prevent putrefactive processes by placing the plants on special float rings that will hold the hyacinth above the surface of the water.

The plant does not tolerate drafts and gusts of wind. Therefore, for something like this negative impact exclude, it is recommended to densely plant some bushes or tall plants along the banks of an artificial pond.

So we met amazing plant- water hyacinth. Of course, growing it in our cold climate is fraught with difficulties - after all, the flower is of tropical origin and is very thermophilic. However, if you can meet all the conditions, you will get a wonderful decorative decoration pond or aquarium.