2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Eichornia, also called green plague and water hyacinth, is often used as an aquarium plant. In natural and artificial reservoirs filled with rather warm water, it grows vigorously and blooms very beautifully. But once this plant was a real wonder for our latitudes. Fortunately, fragrant flowers of the most delicate shades and bright juicy leaves conquered many connoisseurs of beauty and found their refuge in our area - the decorative qualities of eichornia are very much appreciated by gardeners. In addition, this aquatic beauty perfectly cleans water bodies
Getting to know the plant
Eichornia is a wonderful representative of the Pontederiev family. Its glossy leaves form rather interesting rosettes, and at the bases of these leaves, upon close examination, you can see small swellings - inside them there is a porous fabric that helps the wonderful plant to stay afloat, somewhat reminiscent of a foam rubber sponge. Each eichornia rosette produces up to several dozen adorable "babies" per season.
Eichornia roots, as a rule, are completely submerged in water. They are characterized by an impressive length - about half a meter. For tiny fish and a number of other aquatic creatures, they are great hiding places.
The flowers of this beautiful aquatic plant are similar in shape to hyacinths, and their color can be either blue or pinkish or purple.
The benefits and harms of the plant
Among the positive qualities of the beautiful eichornia, one cannot fail to note its ability to absorb insecticides, silver, cadmium, phosphates, nickel and phenols. It recycles almost any organic pollutant surprisingly quickly. In addition, even in heavily polluted water bodies, this aquatic inhabitant will feel great. Eichornia may well replace complex technical mechanisms designed for water purification, therefore it is used even in some industrial enterprises.
However, this plant also has negative sides - eichornia grows and multiplies at a truly incredible speed. That is why it received one of its additional names - water plague. At the same time, the eichornia covers the water surface with a very dense carpet, thereby hindering the movement of ships. Moreover, such a dense blanket significantly impairs the oxygen regime of water bodies, thereby contributing to the death of some of its inhabitants. This plant can also bring certain troubles to hydroelectric power plants. By the way, weevils feeding exclusively on this plant called Neochetina spp will be an excellent remedy against overgrowth of the beauty of Eichornia.
How to grow
In central Russia, it will not be difficult to grow eichornia. The most important thing is to provide her with warm water in reservoirs. Fresh water bodies well-lit by the sun contribute to the luxurious flowering of this green pet. And it reproduces mainly in a vegetative way. In principle, it can multiply by seeds, only this will require a fairly high temperature - not lower than 35 degrees.
As soon as the cool weather sets in, the beautiful Eichornia will continue to build up its vegetative mass, but at the same time it may not bloom. In the fall, it is moved to illuminated aquariums and placed there in ring floats (usually made of foam) so that the leaves do not touch the water to avoid rotting, and the roots are submerged in the water. Eichornia winters well if you provide it with ordinary aquarium lighting and a temperature within 24 - 26 degrees. Another way to store this wonderful plant in winter is to place it in wet sand.
When, with the onset of spring, the reservoirs warm up well, the eichornia can be returned to them again. And in the summer, this beauty will not require special care.
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