A Choking Hazard

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Some of the Goyer’s showed interest in a photo of a water hyacinth in flower. For those of you who reside in places were this is not banned for reason of unsurvivability in a growing zone and are considering this for your pond please be aware that at this time of year this plant can grow 2-3 feet every few days and send offshoots of itself at a phenomenal rate. Therefore it needs constant daily attention in your pond which is removal. This is a very heavy plant and some of the removed ones you see in the photo are 6 to 8 pounds and I remove them with a grappling hook so don’t place them in a pond any larger that the length of a pool grappling hook pole. This is why mechanical harvesters of this plant in infested lakes are really of no use these plants are too heavy to remove and transport away. So if you do decide to have this plant in your pond because of its usefullness and or attractiveness do not slack off in keeping it under control or it can become a choking hazard to your pond. In the photo I have a tape measure stretched out to 3 ft. These plants once dry will be used for mulch they don’t breakdown well enough for the compost bin.

Here is a medium size one 2ft. Note the dense root mass which contributes greatly to the plants weight. Also note the flotation bladders at the base of each leaf.

Here is a cross section of an air bladder revealing the individual air chambers that keep this heavy plant afloat.
In my previous blog Greenfinger mentioned that her sister on a visit to China witnessed their water hyacinth problem first hand. This plant is native to the Amazon water basin and has its presence felt worldwide and is presently choking Lake Victoria in Africa to death.

• 4 Aug, 2017
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