Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - How to start Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata)

Just sharing my latest adventure. I really want to get Pickerel Weed established around my pond. They are beautiful plants and able to be controlled through hand removal. I think control would not be an issue and would love to see them self-spread around the rim of my small pond.

I've been reading about how to start from seeds. There is a lot of interesting studies that tried to evaluate the best way to germinate seeds. I'll share a link to a neat study. It reviews lots of options and all the statistics make me crazy. It seems at the end of the article they could not decide what way was best.

Some argue you cold stratify first. Some say you need to have cold alternating with warm. Some have done dry germination, some wet germination. I can't find out if hard or softened water is best and whether tap water or pond water is best. I can add some nitrogen pellets (milorganite) but will that help?

Time to germinate is 10-12 weeks? That seems unusually wrong since bean seeds in the garden seem to germinate in a few days!

The helpful seller who sold me the seeds said he felt underwater germination is best and felt it best to keep at least 12 hours of light and water temps around 78-80 was best. He suggested trays of water in a terrarium to add humid warmth and a light on a timer.

Once seeds poke out some little 'tendrils' then comes the challenge of transferring them from water to a sand/potting soil mix of some type. Again the seller of the seeds had some pointers but it seems impossible that I'll make this happen. Once plants start growing then I'll need guidance on how to get them into the pond bottom and protect them from predators. I guess they 'like their feet wet' or at least can tolerate some time of submersion?

Anyway, as they say, 'here goes nothing'

I bought 2 packs of seeds and for lack of time and direction they sat in my fridge getting 'cold stratified' for a few months. I opened the seed packs and honestly cannot make out how there are 20 seeds in there. Maybe my seeds are different from in the pictures. The pictures below show large floating things which are not the seeds (they are the milorganite pellets)

Now I have 2 plastic trays sitting on a floor mounted furnace register. I have a gooseneck lamp over it with a incandescent bulb over it set on a timer for 12 hours. The water evaporates pretty fast with the furnace blowing so I'll be adding water probably ever couple days.

If anyone has a green thumb, feel free to chime in!
















For those with a lot of time and understand studies and statistics, here is the interesting article done to determine the best ways to germinate pickerel weed from seed.

Enjoy:

Optimum storage and germination of Pickerel Weed

Attached Images

Canyon
Come down to me this late spring when they have sprouted and dig all you want.

Probably similar to RAH, I planted and experimented with numerous different aquatic plants when my pond was rebuilt. Some plants thrived some did not. I ordered plants from various sources. I was educating and selling plants to new pond owners mostly hybrid water lilies for period back in the 1990's. I made two speaking presentations about plants at Pond Boss Conferences; one about water lilies and one about marginal plants.

A pond that we electroshocked a few years ago had them in it. Not a lot, but a few showed up during the shocking of the pond.