My dog is a "small muncher" as you put it! LOL! He ate just 1 of the round
portions of the water hyacinth, no leaves. We thought it was cute to see his
chase them around the pond and occaisionally catch one. His belly swelled to
about twice his normal size and became rock hard. He then ran a fever and
barfed for hrs till he had nothing but heeves left all the while having
tremors. He wouldn't even drink. Then the next day the other end started. We
definitely learned the hard way as we had no idea how poisous they were. Try
searching "water hyacinth+poisonous" and hundreds of hits come up. Here is
just one..
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/661/
Janet
Niagara Falls, ON
"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
. com...
Janet,
A quick google for "water hyacinth + toxicity" was not all that
enlightening
for me personally, as most of the toxicity mentioned referred (I think) to
toxins absorbed by water hyacinth.
I'm curious, though, even ordinary things (like chocolate!) can be toxic
to
dogs if the quantity is great enough. Is your dog a big "eat-anything"
retriever (like my 85# Chessie/Lab) or a small muncher?
I'll try to remember to ask my D-I-L, the vet, about toxic plants.
In the meantime, I'll stick with parrotfeather instead of water
yacinth --
it's potted, so too heavy to take out of the pond, plus the frog just
loves
it, and I don't need to feel guilty about pond level being too low for
frog
to get out, since the parrotfeather "launching pad" is always available.
Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC
"Janet & Hugh" wrote in message
...
Anne be careful with those water hyacinths and the dogs! Mine got pretty
ill
this summer after stealing one from the pond and eating a portion of
it!!
$200 in vet bills later we learned a valuable lesson... they are
poisonous
and make for one sick dog. 
(
Janet
Niagara Falls, ON
"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
. com...
Ron,
I'm in Raleigh, NC -- and that's probably as "comparable" as we'll
be,
unless (until?) I ever expand my pond experience beyond the teeny
water
garden with a few goldfish. (Water Hyacinths never lasted long enough
to
turn brown in the fall, thanks to my dogs -- the last ones made it
36
hours or so.)
Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC
"Ron Lawrence" wrote in message
. ..
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon
pulling the brown Hyacinths out of the pond.
It's interesting that the water lettuce is still nice
and green. I moved most of the remaining lettuce
into the veggie filter for now, I know it'll die as soon
as we have a hard freeze.
Next I've got to trim all the tall flowering plants
back below water level. I wonder how long the
Black Taro will live...
I wonder if there are any other members of this
group in the Charlotte NC area?
Happy ponding...
Ron
C.R."Ron"Lawrence
Antique Radio Collector & Historian
POBox 3015
Matthews, NC 28106-3015
704-289-1166 (home)
Personal Web Page,
http://www.ronlawrence.homestead.com
Radio Collection Web Page,
http://www.radioheaven.homestead.com
CC-AWA Web Page,
http://www.cc-awa.org
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