View Single Post
  #1   Report Post  
Old 02-07-2008, 10:56 PM posted to rec.ponds.moderated
BB[_3_] BB[_3_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2008
Posts: 11
Default Floating Plant's Floating roots?

I probably asked this before (like 3-4 years ago) but.....

About 3 weeks ago (Mid-June 2008), I picked up some water hyacinth
and water lettuce (First time I'd seen the lettuce for sale). And
now, the roots are all floating at the surface. (Well, almost all
of them; I do see some new roots that seem to be growing straight
down.) The floating roots are also covered in algae that
reappears after a day or two of removing it (gently shaking roots
in the water to dislodge the algae). These algae- covered roots
are unsightly and nasty looking and seem to keep water from moving
well so that section of the surface is mildly stagnant (until I go
agitate it some how). It also appears that some roots are dying
which I assume is from the uncirculated and heated water.

And now, the question!! Is this normal? Should I worry about it?
Will the plants eventually replace their horizontal roots with
vertical ones? I've been removing the roots that appear to be
dead; should I continue?

And, since I know people are going to ask for pictures of the
pond, here they are (I hope; I just signed up for the service):


http://s313.photobucket.com/albums/l.../2008-July-01/

(Or, for the sreen-width-challenged: http://tinyurl.com/6kw99m )

As you can tell, it's a long work in progress that I don't spend a
lot of work on...

~~Bryan

(And, my apologies if the moderation team gets this more than once. I've
had trouble figuring out how to actually post to the group.)

--
************************************************** **********
* Can't see the Forest | Bryan B. *
* Through the Spam? | Reply if you want. E-mail *
* Take it out! | address changes frequently *
* (Damn Viruses!) | to foil spambots. *
************************************************** **********