Description of eichornia or water hyacinth, its properties, growing conditions, care, reproduction, as well as an overview of the main difficulties in breeding in an aquatic environment. Eichornia is better known here under the designation of water hyacinth. In science, her name in Latin sounds like Eichhornia crassipes. The plant is part of the Pontederiev family, where it is separated into a separate genus with the same name Eikhornievye. The tropical part of the American continent is considered the homeland of the water hyacinth, but eichornia is also found in Africa and the countries of the Asian region.
Despite the fact that the plant is widespread in the Amazon basin in South America, it does not occur at all in the tributaries of this river, which are already located in the climatic zone of the temperate climate. But this does not prevent us from growing eichornia in artificial reservoirs, aquariums and winter gardens, where a plant with beautiful flowers in delicate tones of purple, white or blue will always be a welcome guest.
Curious facts about eichornia
- Plague of water. In its natural habitats, water hyacinth often becomes a serious problem for the population, and also poses a threat to the fauna and flora of the region. This is due to the fact that the plant in a constant warm environment grows without measure, covering in the shortest possible time with a dense layer of a large area of the surface of water bodies. Because of this feature, the inhabitants of those regions where Eichornia rages, they began to call the plant the water plague.
- Water purification. This amazing property was discovered by accident. One of the amateur flower growers, before going to rest, decided to throw out the eichornia, and threw it into a container with a soapy stagnant liquid. Imagine his surprise when, after returning from rest, it was found that the plant not only did not die, but also actively grew, making the water absolutely transparent! To make sure that the eichornia actively removes dirt from water, you can conduct a simple experiment at home by typing a cloudy liquid with soap, earth or something else in a jar and leaving the plant in it for a couple of days.
Scientific observations have shown that eichornia is completely immune to harmful impurities that can easily destroy other plants. The roots of the water hyacinth form a huge network, actively expanding until they occupy the entire reservoir. In the process of their development, they work like powerful pumps, intensively absorbing not only available organic compounds, but also harmful oils, phenols, phosphates, oxidized metals and insecticides. Because of this feature, eichornia began to be used to purify water in sedimentation tanks and other places polluted with harmful and hazardous drains.
Description of eichornia
Water hyacinth is a herbaceous and perennial plant with leathery, shiny leaves that gather in a rosette. The petioles are long with a significant thickening towards the base, and they consist of a porous spongy tissue that retains air and allows the eichornia to be held above the water surface. The fibrous root system reaches a length of 55–65 cm, and the flowers are zygomorphic - with one axis for symmetry. In addition, they have a simple structure of the perianth, acquiring a lilac, pink, white or blue hue.
The life cycle of a flower lasts only 1 day, and then it sinks under the surface of the water with the peduncle retained. In warm tropical climates, vegetative reproduction is extremely intensive, as a result of which a durable layer is created that impedes the movement of boats and ships on the water. In addition, the intensity of putrefactive processes increases significantly, which leads to the death of some species of animals, fish and plants.
Features of eichornia
The plant got its second name due to the similarity of its external appearance with the decorative flower growing in gardens - hyacinth. But there is no direct relationship between them, and eichornia acts as an exclusively aquatic plant that feels comfortable in warm water bodies with a rich organic world.
In its natural habitats, eichhornia blooms continuously throughout many years of its life. The flowers are held in the water by special bulges on each of the petioles, which are composed of air-filled tissue with a honeycomb-like structure.
In fact, the characteristic bulges on the cuttings act as floats that support the eichornia rosette, which has a rather curvy shape. When water hyacinth grows singly, the bumps can be spherical and quite large in size. If the plant is going to large colonies, then the size of the bulges decreases, and when rooting occurs, they dry up completely as unnecessary.
The specifics of growing eichornia in ponds
For the development of eichornia, it is imperative to provide only one single condition - an aquatic environment in which organic elements must be contained in large quantities. Therefore, it is important to add a lot of humus, humus or compost to provide the flower with everything it needs.
- Temperature. Since the homeland of the plant are territories with a subtropical and tropical climate, for a comfortable climatic regime it is required to provide high temperatures within the range of 22-27 degrees, and at the stage of flowering even up to 30-32 degrees. If the heat indicators are insufficient, then beautiful large flowers of delicate shades pleasant to the eye may not appear, although the plant develops well and is rapidly gaining in size. Planting of water hyacinths is carried out in our countries at the end of May or at the beginning of June, when the water in temperate latitudes has already warmed up enough and the probability of night frosts will be reduced to zero.
- Lighting. In addition to high temperatures, bright light sources are needed for comfortable development. Usually, several fluorescent lamps of the LB standard are used for these purposes. You need to choose those whose power will be in the range of 3–3, 5 W per 10 square centimeters. Install lamps at a distance of about 30 centimeters above the surface of the water. It is better to refrain from buying conventional incandescent lamps, since they will have to be placed close to plants, and this can cause burns to their leaves. If you try to place the lamps further in order to exclude the possibility of damage to the sheets, you will have to increase their power, which in the end will still lead to undesirable consequences. Therefore, fluorescent lamps remain the only optimal option, and they are used to create a 14-hour daylight hours. In summer, water hyacinth is not difficult to grow with direct sunlight, but there will be little natural light during the fall months, which will slow down the growth of the plant and may even lead to its death. In winter, to preserve the eichornia, you need to move it inside the annular foam float. Moreover, it is important to pay attention to the fact that the roots must remain in the water, but the leaves must already lie on the surface of the float to stay dry. If you ignore this recommendation, then the leaf stalks will begin to rot under the influence of moisture accumulated in them. Directly under the water hyacinth, at a distance of about 5–6 cm from it, a pot is placed, inside which silted soil is left. This arrangement will allow the roots to grow and hide, which will allow the plant to survive the winter, even in a simple aquarium. For wintering, ordinary room lighting and a water temperature of 23-25 degrees are suitable.
- Fertilizer. Eichornia is extremely demanding on the availability of nutrients in the aquatic environment, therefore there is a direct relationship between the intensity of plant development and the concentration of organic residues. The root system has a branched structure, which includes the formation of a large number of adventitious rhizomes. Accordingly, a whole network is formed under the surface of the water, spreading over a large area and consuming all available organic matter. In this regard, attempts to grow eichornia in a clean reservoir will not lead to success, since development will be extremely slow, and in some cases the plant may even die. It is allowed to feed water hyacinth with any kind of organic matter, up to fresh manure. Here, the only limitation is the aesthetic appearance of the reservoir and the smell of its water. Therefore, it is considered optimal to use fertilizers for aquarium or ordinary indoor plants. Despite the fact that eichornia in temperate latitudes is quite an exotic guest, planting and growing this crop is not at all difficult. The main thing is to provide her with the necessary food, as well as temperature and lighting.
The period and conditions of flowering water hyacinth
In its natural environment, eichornia mainly grows in the water bodies of the tropics and subtropics of South America and Asia, where the air temperature usually does not drop below 25-26 degrees Celsius. These conditions allow the water hyacinth to bloom all year round without stopping.
In the temperate zone, such an atmosphere can be provided only artificially, therefore, water hyacinth begins to bloom in open reservoirs only in the summer, when the air warms up to a temperature of 28 and above. When the temperature drops below 22 degrees, flowering stops.
If the summer months turned out to be cold, then the flowers do not appear, but above the water surface, the eichornia forms a beautiful green cap of leaves in bright saturated colors.
Reproduction of water hyacinth
The easiest way to reproduce eichornia is vegetative. In this case, the young rosettes are separated from the mother plant. It should be borne in mind that the intensity of the mass gained by the water hyacinth is directly related to the duration of daylight hours, the less it is, the faster the growth occurs. When trying to use this moment in collecting young rosettes, one must not forget that reproduction leads to a decrease in the illuminated area in the reservoir and a drop in oxygen levels, which can damage other vegetation, as well as some species of mollusks, fish and various amphibians.
In their natural habitats, eichornia is propagated by seeds. But for the countries of the former CIS, this method is inapplicable due to the fact that the plant needs to provide a high air temperature - at least 35 degrees.
How does water hyacinth winter?
In the autumn period, the air temperature already drops quite strongly for such a heat-loving plant as eichornia, so you should first think about creating all the necessary conditions for its wintering. In a natural reservoir, it will not survive, so you will need to transfer the water hyacinth to a warm room with a good level of illumination. As a container for storage during the dormant period, you can use a basin, an aquarium, etc. The water for the plant is taken that in which it was in the summer. For rooting, mud is added to the bottom.
In the winter months, the excessively high temperatures of the eichornia are no longer necessary, it is enough for the air and water to be warmed up to 20 degrees Celsius. All this is not difficult to organize, but you still need to think about a sufficient level of illumination, since sockets perceive the lack of light extremely negatively, then you need to use fluorescent lamps to ensure a 14-hour day.
For normal wintering, the water hyacinth also needs oxygen in sufficient quantities, but it must be taken into account that the plant does not like drafts and can die if you do not pay due attention to this point. In addition, we must not forget about feeding, since the eichornia eats actively all year round, a forced "hunger strike" will negatively affect its condition. To maintain the water hyacinth, you can periodically feed it a small amount of fertilizer that is intended for aquarium plants.
Eichornia application in landscape design
When decorating open reservoirs using water hyacinth, you need to take into account some points. As already mentioned, the plant is afraid of drafts, so if possible, you need to protect it from them. For this purpose, you can use the planting of marsh irises, cattails or other vertically growing plants along the edge of the reservoir.
Some landscape designers try to combine eichornia and water lilies, as their combination looks quite impressive. But it must be taken into account that in the company of such an aggressive neighbor, other plant species feel bad and may die. Eichornia rosettes over time quickly cover the entire surface, preventing the penetration of sunlight and consuming oxygen from the water in huge quantities, which causes the death of fish, shells and other aquatic animals. Therefore, you need to worry about additional aeration so that the underwater inhabitants do not suffer from the beauty of the flowering plant.
The main pests and diseases of eichornia
Water hyacinth is not prone to any particular disease and problems with its condition are always the result of improper care. The plant itself is very strong and aggressive, so even pests common to other species are not afraid of it. Some problems were only noticed when exposed to the weevil beetle.
Based on this, some countries of the African continent, where eichornia grows immensely and causes a lot of inconvenience, even at one time decided to specially breed the weevil beetle so that it would reduce the population of water hyacinth. Unfortunately, this experiment failed miserably, which allows us to declare with confidence that there are simply no especially dangerous pests that could destroy the plant in nature.
Difficulties arising from the cultivation of eichornia:
- The appearance of brown spots usually indicates a lack of moisture in the air or the presence of drafts. In this case, it is enough to eliminate the cause for the beautiful appearance to be restored.
- In some cases, the formation of brown spot can be the result of incipient putrefactive processes. But, as a rule, this phenomenon is preceded by rotting of cuttings, which is difficult to miss. Here it is already necessary to make, for example, special floats-rings from foam plastic, which will hold the leaves above the surface, and the roots will remain submerged in water.
Learn more about Eichornia from this video:
