mysterious small weed vs. Water Lily
 

Hi all,

wonder if you can help solve a mystery -
My pot pond is a couple of months old, roughly. Full details of pond at
bottom of post. After I had my 'pot-pond' set up for about a month or so, a
tiny cluster of leaves appeared floating on the surface. Three tiny green
leaves. Then they started to multiply. After a few weeks (3-4), these little
clusters covered almost 100% of the pond's surface and I noticed the water
lily looking far less happy than it had. I scooped out almost half of the
weed but it grew back again within a week. (The goldfish seems to like
eating these small leaves however.) I did not introduce this plant! I don't
know where it came from. What *is* this weed? It seems to have little roots
floating under it in the water.

The water of the pond is clear now, (after the expected initial algae-fest)
the goldfish is happy and getting fatter, the other plants seem to be doing
well. But I am worried about the water lily. It has far fewer leaves than
before. Will this weed choke it? Hope someone can help.

Regards
Nicola

Pond specs:

I am in Sydney, Australia. It is early autumn here, very humid but otherwise
mild weather, not cold.
Pond is a large pot 50cm in diameter and maybe 40cm deep, shallowish but
basically half-spherical.
Gets around 5 hours full sun in the morning, then falls in the shadow of the
house.

Contains:
1 small goldfish
2 aquatic snails
1 miniature water lily planted (in a pot) a bit too shallowly for optimal
happiness. Was bought in Feb, has never flowered.
1 rainbow nardoo plant (potted)
2 small bunches underwater oxygenator planted straight into the river sand
on the bottom (flourishing)
1 potted oxygenator hanging on for dear life (almost completely eaten by the
fish)

mysterious small weed vs. Water Lily
 

"Nicola B" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

wonder if you can help solve a mystery -
My pot pond is a couple of months old, roughly. Full details of pond at
bottom of post. After I had my 'pot-pond' set up for about a month or so,
a
tiny cluster of leaves appeared floating on the surface. Three tiny green
leaves. Then they started to multiply. After a few weeks (3-4), these
little
clusters covered almost 100% of the pond's surface and I noticed the water
lily looking far less happy than it had. I scooped out almost half of the
weed but it grew back again within a week. (The goldfish seems to like
eating these small leaves however.) I did not introduce this plant! I
don't
know where it came from. What *is* this weed? It seems to have little
roots
floating under it in the water.

The water of the pond is clear now, (after the expected initial
algae-fest)
the goldfish is happy and getting fatter, the other plants seem to be
doing
well. But I am worried about the water lily. It has far fewer leaves than
before. Will this weed choke it? Hope someone can help.
snip

Sounds like duckweed... http://tinyurl.com/yqdct. It's very invasive and
will easily cover a pond. On the bright side, by mid summer (in my zone 6
pond) it usually dies back, or the fish eat it all. It's a great filter
plant. My pond was a mess the first season, until (I believe) I let it cover
over with duckweed for a couple of weeks.

--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

mysterious small weed vs. Water Lily
 

"Nicola B" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

wonder if you can help solve a mystery -
My pot pond is a couple of months old, roughly. Full details of pond at
bottom of post. After I had my 'pot-pond' set up for about a month or so,
a
tiny cluster of leaves appeared floating on the surface. Three tiny green
leaves. Then they started to multiply. After a few weeks (3-4), these
little
clusters covered almost 100% of the pond's surface and I noticed the water
lily looking far less happy than it had. I scooped out almost half of the
weed but it grew back again within a week. (The goldfish seems to like
eating these small leaves however.) I did not introduce this plant! I
don't
know where it came from. What *is* this weed? It seems to have little
roots
floating under it in the water.

The water of the pond is clear now, (after the expected initial
algae-fest)
the goldfish is happy and getting fatter, the other plants seem to be
doing
well. But I am worried about the water lily. It has far fewer leaves than
before. Will this weed choke it? Hope someone can help.
snip

Sounds like duckweed... http://tinyurl.com/yqdct. It's very invasive and
will easily cover a pond. On the bright side, by mid summer (in my zone 6
pond) it usually dies back, or the fish eat it all. It's a great filter
plant. My pond was a mess the first season, until (I believe) I let it cover
over with duckweed for a couple of weeks.

--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

mysterious small weed vs. Water Lily
 

Like BV said, duckweed.
It probably came in on your lily.
Duckweed disappears underwater over winter
and then will float to the surface once the sun comes back and water temps
start to go up.
It has the world's tiniest 'flower' according to something I read. I've never
seen it but I keep looking for it.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

mysterious small weed vs. Water Lily
 

Like BV said, duckweed.
It probably came in on your lily.
Duckweed disappears underwater over winter
and then will float to the surface once the sun comes back and water temps
start to go up.
It has the world's tiniest 'flower' according to something I read. I've never
seen it but I keep looking for it.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

mysterious small weed vs. Water Lily
 

Regarding your lily though, if it has some pads up, the duckweed will not
choke it out. Have you been feeding your lily? What is it planted in? Does
the growing point have room to grow, not up against the side of the pot?
~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)