Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

A friend of mine introduced me with water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) several years ago and ever since then I had it maybe two times. Since we have cold winters hyacinth cannot survive outside but it also rarely survives indoors. Lack of sunlight is the biggest problem and artificial lights are too expensive to use. It is interesting that sometimes it survives through entire winter and when spring comes it starts to die. Don`t understand why but it is very disappointing to see that.

To me water hyacinth is very interesting looking plant and great addition to ponds and lakes. My biggest reason for wanting this plant is that it looks very unusual and I would like to see it flower :). I hope that this post will end with water hyacinth flowering and producing seed. Since it is hard to overwinter plants seed would be great thing to have.

General info about the plant
Common name	Water hyacinth
Latin name	Eichhornia crassipes
Hardiness zone	9 (-6.6°C || 20°F) and above
Size	15-30 cm || 5.9-11.8 and more
Light	Full sun for flowering, will grow in shade but no flowering
Water	Rich in nutrients
Soil	Rich in nutrients
Propagation	Seed, division
Special notes	Grows very fast in water rich with nutrients. Doubles its size in 5 days given that it has enough food, warmth and sunlight. Responds well to artificial fertilizers and foliar fertilizers.

This year I wanted to buy hyacinth but there was a problem. No store in Croatia has water hyacinth so I searched all over the US and Europe and no one wanted to send hyacinths. After two weeks of searching I almost gave up when I came across Seaside Aquatics from UK. It was the only nursery that was willing to send plants my way and provided the best customer service. I`m very grateful to Kat for being so nice and willing to end my search. That is why I`m happy to recommend them for aquarium plants and equipment in general. No, this is not sponsored post, this is my way of saying thank you to Seaside aquatics. :)

I bought 5 small plants that traveled 11 days from UK to Croatia and came undamaged. I took them a little too fast out of the bag so leafs became very soft but in few hours they recovered. It was important not to expose them to direct sunlight for some time.They arrived on April 24th...

24.04.2013.

24.04.2013.

As soon as they arrived I placed them into water and added soil from the garden. I also covered them with the piece of cloth but at one point wind blew it off and exposed hyacinths to strong sun so edges of the leafs got burned. Otherwise they were just fine. few days later they started producing new leafs.

02.05.2013.

02.05.2013.

Two weeks later they are growing strong, New leafs, big roots and container is becoming crowded...

10.05.2013.

...so soon after that I placed them in a container where I have Victoria amazonica.. Soil for V. amazonica is ordinary garden soil mixed with chicken manure. Both soil and water are very rich with nutrients and that was a real encouragement to them to grow like crazy...

24.05.2013.

24.05.2013.

From time to time I collect algae but because of nutrients in water and high temperature they cover the surface in only one day :(. V. amazonica is still kept indoors, in glasshouse, because weather outside is rainy and a bit colder than it should be for this time of the year.

Algae are not the only thing that is growing like crazy, hyacinths are also very fast and poor amazonica has to fight for space. They are growing so fast that I think they will for sure produce flowers this year...but who knows...maybe they will, maybe they won`t.

30.05.2013.	30.05.2013.
30.05.2013.	30.05.2013.

Eventually leaf aphids turned up. Don`t know where they came from but I definitely had to get rid of them because they are weakening my plants. The best solution for aphids, natural solution, is ladybug or ladybug`s larva. They are natural predators for aphids so they should be used every time one can. Since it is spring time there is a lot of ladybugs around so all I need to do is take one or two and place it on hyacinths. On one website I read that ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids/day and that is true. My first ladybug larva eat almost all aphids in few hours and it was a change that you can notice with your bare eye.

problem (aphids)

solution (ladybug larva)

Growth rate of this plants is amazing. They literally double their size in only 5 days! Since water where I planted Victoria amazonica is very rich with nutrients I place small hyacinths there and in 5-6 days they are double in size. It sounds hard to believe but it is true. So, I use that container as a mini multiplier :) for hyacinths and I use hyacinths to eat nutrients in the water to prevent algae from developing on the surface.

From what I see the best method to make them grow fast and big is to put some chicken manure on the bottom of the container and then cover that manure with ordinary soil. Water dissolves nutrients and top layer of soli prevents all nutrients from dissolving at once. Also it is important to provide them with as much sunlight as possible. That is also one of the conditions for them to flower. I think that I`ve read somewhere that they need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight/day. Mine have between 8 and 9 hours of full sunlight a day. Water becomes very warm and they simply enjoy it. Growth is so obvious that change can be seen within 24 hours. Also, one website states that they need to be crowded in order to flower so I allowed mine to become very crowded...actually they grow so fast that 2 week after placing them in one big container they filled it up so now I must find a new one. They respond very well to foliar fertilizer and some solid NPK fertilizer dissolved in water. Although, be careful not to overdo it with fertilizers because they can burn roots and destroy plants. Still it is by far the best to use chicken manure weather in its natural form or in pellets.
Even if they don`t flower it is nice to see them grow and most of all it is nice to see their unusual leaf shape.

21.06.2013. Container 1

21.06.2013. Container 2

In June I used plastic foil that I had and build another container for them. All hyacints are moved from container 1 to that new container which is made of old tractor tire :) and has diameter of approximately 1 m (3.28 ft). On the bottom is chicken manure which I covered with ordinary garden soli. This way there is always a moderate amount of nutrients in the water and if plants want more they can simply extend their roots down into the soil. The entire container is not very deep, maybe some 30 cm (11.8 in). The idea was have more space for hyacinths to grow but they are growing so fast that after 2 weeks there is simply no room left for them to grow.

The other thing is that I think hyacinths are developing flowers. There are several unusual leafs on the biggest plants. So far non of the previous leafs looked like that so my suspicion is that inside these leafs there are flowers. The "cushion" looking part of the leaf is extended and has line in the middle (not the line it usually has when new leaf is growing). At the end of the line there is a tiny triangular leaf so my guess is that inside the "cushion" there is flower hidden. Also, the neck of the entire leaf is much stronger (thicker) usually.

08.07.2013. From left to right: strong neck, line in the middle, tiny triangular leaf.

Closer view of another leaf.

The speed of growth in this new container can be seen in a form of rumpled new leafs which straighten up later.

I was right, flower is developing in that strange looking leafs. Here is the latest photo...

12.07.2013. Flower developing

13.07.2013.

13.07.2013.

14.07.2013.