"Judy" wrote in message
om...
I see many post regarding a plant called anacharis. Is this a
recommended plant to have in your pond? Does it spread fast, does it
need upkeep? How do you plant it? Does it float or do you have to
plant it in something and how many plants would you need? So many
questions but where I'm at I don't see it for sale but sure hear about
it alot. Thanks

Anacharis, often referred to as an Oxygen plant by some ponders, is
indigenous to South American countries like Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and
Brazil. A mature plant can grow to as much as 13 feet in length! It's Latin
name is Elodea Densa. It can thrive in hard water with little light, and
likes a pH of 6.5-7.5.

This plant is a marginal that will happily float in your pond, and sometimes
sink to the bottom. There is no need to pot it up, just toss it in. If you
bury an end of anacharis in a pot, your aquarium or some other substrate, it
will root and flourish at the bottom of your pond or aquarium.

This plant creates a lot of oxygen in the water by day, but will actually
use up O2 during the night, so you shouldn't expect to replace proper
aeration with this plant.
Some ponders will put Anacharis in their vegetable filter (VF) to assist in
filtration. If your VF is deep enough this is a great, but if you have a
shallow VF, the Anacharis may compete too much with your main filter plants,
such as Water Hyacinth or Water Iris.

Anacharis is usually sold is small bunch of 3-4 stems of about 6-8 inches
long. Typical cost is just a few dollars. This plant will grow like crazy in
your pond, and in no time you will be finding strands of anacharis over 3
feet long. Most ponders end up composting anacharis each season because it
is such an aggressive grower.

BV.