Are Your Water Hyacinths NOT Becoming a Nuisance?

Water Hyacinths normally grow like gangbusters to the point, as the season progresses, you end up throwing many of them away. It’s almost impossible to think that someone’s hyacinths might be having difficulty growing and blooming. It does happen and usually it’s a case of the missing roots. If your hyacinths aren’t “hyacing” flip them over and check out the roots. They should be long and healthy. You may be surprised to find them bare as a baby’s bottom. Case solved. Fish are being bad little boys and eating the roots.

Another thing that happens to hyacinths when the weather gets hot is they can get brown spots on the leaves. Keep these browned-out leaves picked off if you can.

Are Your Lily Pads Flipping Out?

No, it’s not a new hybrid of waterlily that produces lily pads that curl at the edges. Whenever your pads are flipping out they are actually screaming that there is a fungus among us! In fact, it’s a fungus called Cerospora that attacks the outer edges of the pad and dries it out making it curl. Your best defense is to simply remove the affected lily pads.

Something Rotten in Denmark?

If all the pads on your waterlily are yellowing no matter what you do and the bloom is fading away before it can even get to the surface you may have a dirty rotten scoundrel at work on your waterlily. Crown Rot is not a pretty thing. Hold your nose with one hand and pinch the tuber with the other because if it is mushy - it is smelly too! And if this is the case you have a murderer on your hands who will not stop at only one plant. Crown Rot is highly contagious and any exposed waterlily should be mercifully thrown out in the trash to prevent further spread of this disease.

Is Something Bugging You?

Here are some clues, my dear Watson — tiny holes in the leaves; a whole side of a lily pad mysteriously disappears; there’s something nasty stuck to the bottom side of the leaf. Oh, no — could it be that your plants are being bugged? That’s exactly what’s happening. The culprit could be one of many from the Pond Pest Most Wanted List. From Aphids to Japanese Beetles to Leafhoppers to the Great Pond Snail himself — if caught early enough the plant can be saved! First of all, remove any leaves affected. If that doesn’t do the trick or in severe infestations you should isolate the plant and treat it.

If you have fish you simply cannot treat an infected plant in the pond. How do you treat them without harming the fish? Elementary, my dear Watson. You remove them to a plant hospital. Plant hospitals come in lots of forms. You can use the kids’ wading pool— if they’ll let you —or a couple of large thick-walled plastic storage containers. Fill them up with water and place the plants like you would place them in the pond. Sprinkle the tops of the plants with an insecticide such as seven dust taking precautions not to dust the pond accidentally. After a week or so the plants can be rinsed off and returned to the pond.

Are Your Parrot’s Feather Losing Their Quills?

The delicate roots of parrot’s feather loves moving water and tends to grow well in waterfalls and streambeds. They do not grow well in the quiet or “stagnant” part of the pond where waterlilies thrive. If placed in the pond it’s best to have them anchored in a pot directly in the water current. The soft quills may not move on the surface of the water but underneath the waterline there is plenty of water rushing by its root system keeping them clear and healthy.