#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Farming & Gardening In Thailand >  >  Water Plants

## dirtydog

Now having a large pond and being stingey means I shall be mainly stealing water plants from other peoples ponds and lakes, so here is the end of the pond I shall be starting on, tomorrow I shall rake out most of those weeds, this end of the pond is a nice gentle slope so it should be good for water lilies.



I have what I think are some bullrushes growing there at the far end, only about 10 at the moment but I think they will spread, also they seem to stay right at the edge of the water whereas water lilies like to be in the water so to speak.



So what I want are some nice water lilies like these ones, so any loose ones laying around in Pattaya? I need a few hundred I suppose.



A nice water lily.



I'm also after some water hyacinth for the other end of the pond, I know these help keep the water clean so was thinking of running the grey water cess pit into that end, but how to keep the hyacinths in one corner? Don't really want them floating all over the whole pond.

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## Norton

> I'm also after some water hyacinth for the other end of the pond


I would avoid them.  As you point out damn hard to contain and will take over.

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## Norton

Gipsy is lurking so stand by for some good advice.

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## Gipsy

> how to keep the hyacinths in one corner?


Waterhyacinth (Eichornia), although grown as floating water plant, will also grow when planted in a container with soil and clay. Provided there is a bit of water over the crown, the plants will thrive in these condition.

Or, use any dark colored bird netting just under the waterlevel, secured on both sides of the pond, to keep them from spreading all over the place.

A floating (PVC) ring also will keep them at bay, although in time, the younger ones will detach themselves and float away....

So the best option is to occasionaly check the pond, scoop out the excess and toss them on the compost heap... they make great fertilizer!

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## Gipsy

> Gipsy is lurking so stand by for some advice.


Corrected.... and what's wrong with a water hyacinth overgrown pond?  :Smile:

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## PAG

Can be real nasty:

Water hyacinth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## dirtydog

It just so happens I have some bird netting in my collection of junk, 10cm depth should be okay to keep the hyacinth in one corner, I assume it's a meter wide or more but that would cause problems for the fish so needs to be cut down.

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## Norton

How about a small earthen berm with a couple of concrete culverts on the bottom to allow water and fish in/out of the area you want to have the Water hyacinth?

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## dirtydog

^The pond is 4 to 5 meters deep in that corner, that aint going to be a small earthern berm to sort it out that way.

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## Norton

> The pond is 4 to 5 meters deep in that corner


Oops.  A tad deep.  Build a concrete wall/dike.  You're good at that. :Smile:

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## dirtydog

Well I went out for a ride on my push bike a few nights ago about 3am, lots of people have lilies but they only have one or 2, but I did find some hyacinth just laying in some bowl of water out on the street, so I borrowed some, seems they are self spreading from the roots so once songkran is over I shall take it to the pond.

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## Gipsy

> but I did find some hyacinth


What you borrowed is no water hyacinth, but *Pistia stratiotes*, also known as water lettuce. Leaves are spongy and crinkled and velvety in texture. It grows best in partial shade and reproduces by offsets that grow from the base of the mature plant, like strawberry plants.



Photo Pistia stratiotes | Wikipedia | Kurt Stueber

Wikipedia | Pistia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




The 'real' water hyacinth is called *Eichhornia crassipes*



Photo | Pondmegastore

Wikipedia | Eichhornia crassipes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## CharleyFarley

I think we had that water hyacinth in our big pond, don't remember seeing the flowers, but it was a nightmare getting rid of it because it bungs up the water with its roots. We also had fish but the pond was only 2 metres deep.

Of course it may have been just some poxy similar looking weed.

Koi or goldfish, hyacinth or weed...who knows :Confused:

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## DrAndy

you can have some of my fish, they will eat it all

the only place the plant survives is on the floating raft; as soon as they get into the water proper, they are consumed

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## dirtydog

Right I got me a water hyacinth today, we had real heavy rains so it's a bit damaged, hope they grow quite quick as I want about 10 square meters covered in this plant.

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## Gipsy

> hope they grow quite quick as I want about 10 square meters covered in this plant.


Somewhere around  *July 30th* will be the day those 10 square meters will be covered.  :Smile: 

After bamboo and pacific giant kelp, water hyacinth is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. In good conditions the population doubles every 12 days. You've got one, let's say it is 20 x 20 cm , so that is 0.04 square meter.... 0.04 > 0.08 > 0.16 > 0.32 > 0.64 > 1.28 > 2.56 > 5.12 > 10.24 square meters.... is 96 days.



Illustration | fao.org

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## dirtydog

I think I have a plan, shall get a few more, let them cover the pond and then use them as fertiliser, the soil on the land is real poor, the water is pretty good and has fish and stuff in.

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## dirtydog

I think maybe the pond is too cold for these plants, the water lettuce has now evolved into about 5 plants, maybe a couple more that I missed, the water hyacinth I can't even find, I think it is in the far left corner but there is no way even one square meter is covered, the land is now reverting back to jungle as the rainy season is here so I will have some compost, but it would be a lot easier just raking it out of the pond  :Sad: 

Anyway, I have been buying these plants and putting them in areas where water collects, they have the purple flowers all year round and spikes on them, so what are they?

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## tsicar

> I think maybe the pond is too cold for these plants, the water lettuce has now evolved into about 5 plants, maybe a couple more that I missed, the water hyacinth I can't even find, I think it is in the far left corner but there is no way even one square meter is covered, the land is now reverting back to jungle as the rainy season is here so I will have some compost, but it would be a lot easier just raking it out of the pond 
> 
> Anyway, I have been buying these plants and putting them in areas where water collects, they have the purple flowers all year round and spikes on them, so what are they?


bougainvillea.
common as crap in thailand, -they mostly train and trim them into those hideous pompom bushes or sculpt them into peacocks and dragons and shit.
available in many colours, and will grow almost anyanywhere.
never seen them used as a waterplant, tho.

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## dirtydog

They aint in water, but there are low points in the land, those plants grow big and live through anything, so I think as the rainy season progresses, they will get big and also help keep the low points from collecting too much water, at least thats my theory  :Smile:

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## mikenot

With too much water bouganvilia will send out lots of thorny water shoots, but you won't get many flowers. You get the best flowers when you ignore them and treat them like shit ...no watering, no fertiliser, no TLC. Here in rural Aust. you often see old abandoned farmhouses overgrown with bouganvillia after years of neglect

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## dirtydog

^Thats why I chose them, I bought them at about 40cm high, we have another 2 months or more of rainy season, plus another month of damp/wet soil, so they should be pretty massive by the end of the year and also help get rid of standing water on the land.

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## grasshopper

Why dont you try growing cane toads? They must use up water and are very attractive little beasties. Or rabbits, they multiply quickly and must drink a lot of water, piss and shit a lot. Just ask Warren.  :cmn:

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## tsicar

> rabbits, they multiply quickly and must drink a lot of water, piss and shit a lot. Just ask Warren.


is that "rabbit" warren you are referring to?

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## grasshopper

> Originally Posted by grasshopper
> 
> 
> rabbits, they multiply quickly and must drink a lot of water, piss and shit a lot. Just ask Warren. 
> 
> 
> is that "rabbit" warren you are referring to?


Curses! Ya found me out!

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## sunsetter

lets have an update then dd, few pics or summink ::chitown::

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## dirtydog

An update, the water hyacinth has demised and is no where to be seen, the water lettuce now covers just over 1 square meter, my land is a jungle so the need for dead rotting plants to use as fertiliser isn't so urgent as everything we chop down is going to rot, the bougainvillea isn't doing as good as I thought it would, well, apart from one of them, got to admit I thought they would be a couple of meters high by now, the one that was was attacked in a case of mistaken identity in a frenzy of chopping down weeds and trees, he survived but isn't as big as he was earlier today  :Sad:

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## sunsetter

whats up with your camera then dd?

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## dirtydog

Nothing wrong with the camera, here are the water lettuce, not very impressive on a grey day with dirty water from the rain and rain run offs.



Obviously we went prepared to do some more tree chopping, most of the trees are about 10 foot high and pretty thin, then we came across this beasty, how the hell are they growing so quick  :Sad: 



This is the biggest we have chopped down, could do with a bigger chopper I think, was about 20 to 30 foot high, now its about that long.



My lake is somewhere behind this lot  :Sad: 



This is where the first small house will be built, that grass is about 12 foot high at the moment so should burn well when burning season comes  :Smile: 



This is my neighbours land, he is just about to be flooded if the rainy season carries on, his soil level is about 10cm higher than mine which isn't good, luckily I have a 40cm high concrete beam between me and him.

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## sunsetter

that looks nice mate, set up a few rods on a little jetty and bingo, heaven...

what fishes are in there?

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## dirtydog

Probably every kind of fish you can think of, loads of small ornamental tropical fish, quite a few biggies which I assume are catfish, none of them eat bread which I found out when I threw a loaf in, I have a fishing rod but it is set up for spinning, been looking for some floats to use there.

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## sunsetter

get on it mate, get some live baits in there  ::chitown::

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## stu

> Now having a large pond and being stingey means I shall be mainly stealing water plants from other peoples ponds and lakes, so here is the end of the pond I shall be starting on, tomorrow I shall rake out most of those weeds, this end of the pond is a nice gentle slope so it should be good for water lilies.
> 
> 
> 
> I have what I think are some bullrushes growing there at the far end, only about 10 at the moment but I think they will spread, also they seem to stay right at the edge of the water whereas water lilies like to be in the water so to speak.
> 
> 
> 
> So what I want are some nice water lilies like these ones, so any loose ones laying around in Pattaya? I need a few hundred I suppose.
> ...


Yes I think the above are Lotus lillys could be wrong but ya can actually eat them they grow these sort of hard nuts ya can eat when they die off and produce seed, ya can also eat the flower and staymen and stalk.

As for Water Hyacinthe it is really nasty stuff and in oz it is declared a noxious aquatic weed it was part of my job to knock it out when workin for council pest and weed control, this can either be done with herbicide or biological control with a little weevil i cant remember the name of now.

The other aquatic plant in the pic is cumbungi this gear would be ya best bet it is not as invasive as hyacinth, with hyacinth what happens is it will throw a huge blanket over a pond devoidin it of light this in turn kills the other aquatic plants of sunlight thus photosynthesis cannot take place they then die off and start to decompose.

When ya get decomposition the water then drops in oxygen levels then the fish and other aerobic marine organisms do the same further turnin it into a putrid mess but maybe where you are this plant is not a prob? but i doubt it, best to check with say an environmental consultant or google it, ya best bet is to take a look around and see what is endemic to the area and follow suit then ya can't go to far wrong.

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## DrAndy

> As for Water Hyacinthe it is really nasty stuff and in oz it is declared a noxious aquatic weed it was part of my job to knock it out when workin for council pest and weed control, this can either be done with herbicide or biological control with a little weevil i cant remember the name of now.


it is a good plant, my fish eat it all

in Oz it is called noxious because it grows and grows and clogs waterways; all you have to do is pull it out if you get too much, but I never do, it just vanishes

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## stu

> Originally Posted by stu
> 
> As for Water Hyacinthe it is really nasty stuff and in oz it is declared a noxious aquatic weed it was part of my job to knock it out when workin for council pest and weed control, this can either be done with herbicide or biological control with a little weevil i cant remember the name of now.
> 
> 
> it is a good plant, my fish eat it all
> 
> in Oz it is called noxious because it grows and grows and clogs waterways; all you have to do is pull it out if you get too much, but I never do, it just vanishes


Yes understood obviously not a prob where you are like part of the food web, i have seen it here in oz in a blanket about a meter thick it's terrible stuff and as for noxious any plant is classified as noxious when it is in an area wher it does not belong one comes to mind the Umbrella tree from FNQ no worries up there but in the S/E it is declared noxious.

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## dirtydog

Now I posted this picture less than 50 days ago.



Hmm, the whole pond is covered in this plant now, I mean the whole lot, the pond is just this plant now, water lettuce, I went there a week or 2 ago to bury a dog which had been poisoned by my lovely neighbours, yeah snowy your time will come, so now I got a jungle and a jungle pond, I'm going to set up some stuff to fertilize all this stuff.

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## dirtydog

So today was the day to do battle with the pond, my first plan was use some old rope I had, 1 of us each side of the pond and just drag it all to the nicely sloped end of the pond, that water lettuce is so dense the rope just laid on top of it, plan 2 came into action, we chopped down a tree, cut it down to 4meters and cleared all the branches off of it, tied a rope on each end and threw the tree trunk out into the pond, idea beingas we dragged it back it would bring in the water lettuce, no where near heavy enough to penetrate to the water  :Sad: 




Not very successful as you can see in this picture, onto plan 3, off we went to the far right side of the pond with the nice gentle slope, using short sticks we started dragging the water lettuce to the edge of the bank, this was actually real hard work, the stuff has masses of roots and is pretty heavy, then we just put it in piles about 1 meter away from the waters edge, I do think this stuff will make good soil, it's so full of water and dirt and black stuff, but I'm probably going to have to go there everyday for the next couple of weeks just to catch up as there is way too much, although 50 days from a few square meters of water lettuce to 500 square meters of the stuff is like 10 square meters of growth perday, so I really need to take out 20 squares perday just to get ahead a bit, but I'm damn sure I'm going to have some great fertiliser  :Smile: 



And this is about as much as we cleared.

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## dirtydog

Well I have been going back to clear a bit every few days but it seems to be dieing off quicker than we can clear it, I've got to assume it is a seasonal plant and I am losing my crop  :Sad:  But I now have thousands of baby fish and mid sized fish, I think because they had the roots to hide in plus its more food so the survival rate has been a lot higher, really not sure, shall try to get as much as possible of the stuff out of the water to use as fertiliser still though.

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## dirtydog

It's real hard going getting those water plants out of the pond and into piles on the land, so I invented a water plant scooper(patent pending), 2.5 meter length of bamboo, some plastic container and a bit of string.



Light, easy to use and leave it on the land cos no one is going to nick it.

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