Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat 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

Why not buy the plants already started?

esshup, I think you are correct, would have been far better. Do you think I can buy them now and try to plant them and get them to grow inside or just wait till spring and put them in their future pond bank environment right away?

I find a few sellers on ebay but the sprigs they send you look pretty miserable. I was hoping in spring a local nursery or plant store might have these but I couldn't find them last year at any local store.

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

Wait 'till Spring. You can order all you want from Cardno Native Plant Nursery. Pg 45. https://www.cardnonativeplantnurser...pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=130061df_5/

I don't know if they ship, they are located about 25 miles SSW of South Bend, Indiana.

Bill, how did they get established? Do you have pictures? Interesting that you have them. Do you like them and do they provide a habitat for shallow water critters? How much work to keep them from spreading?

esshup thanks for the catalog of Cardno. Great options in their catalog!

I had them in my pond. As long as the water level seemed pretty stable (within a 2 foot variance from Spring to Winter) they seemed to do OK. Once the water started doing it's wild swings (up to 7' low now and it has been at least 5' low for the past 2 years) they died off. I don't know if any seeds will re-sprout once the water levels get back to being close to full pool again.

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 little off post but is there anywhere in the USA where chain pickerel still exists?

Short answer - yes.

Chain Pickerel in Misery

It might be fun to fish a pond where Chain Pickerel had been successfully "planted".

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.

I would love to find a source of chain pickerel for one of my ponds, but I cannot even find a source of blue catfish in Indiana. I caught chain pickerel in a tributary of the Delaware river as a kid.

RAH, let me know how many Blue Cats you want and what size and I will shoot you a price on delivering them. OR you can drive up here to pick them up.

I only need about 10 fish and the smaller the better because there are only FHM, lake chubsuckers, and spotfin shiners in the pond.

O.K. I'll call around. If you need any other fish let me know because the most expensive part of the order will be transportation with the price of diesel fuel. My COST for diesel fuel alone is running $0.41/mile right now as of 12/17/2022. Bringing more fish won't add to the transportation costs. Lebanon is 250 miles round trip from here.

I really think the cost will be too high for me. I may be able to get a permit and get some fish from Illinois next spring. My son has volunteered to drive with me. If I get a population going, I will hopefully be able to share.

Run the numbers and let us know what the cost will be to pick them up. Where in Illinois will you get them?

For the life of me, I cannot find my email string with the hatchery that had blue catfish. I remember it was about 30 minutes west of Peoria and the fellow that I talked to said they could help me get a permit to bring them into Indiana. I am really getting old...

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=481166#Post481166
This one RAH?

?

Read thru the thread. How did your emails go from back then? Did you find anyone with them?

Here's a place in Missouri.

http://osagecatfisheries.com/pond-stocking.asp

I am familiar with that supplier but they are pretty far away. That may be where the place in Illinois is getting their's.

I bought 2-3 off of eBay and in two years they were all over the pond.

Thanks for the encouragement Ross!
I started this around Dec 12 and we are 35 days in. I have been changing water as it 'ages' and have put them in a plastic coffee filter to allow for some washings. Then back in the plastic containers. They are on the register so there is fast evaporation but I need to somehow keep it warm. The light on a timer is adding photons of light plus heat on the top side.
The documentation online says 4-6 weeks in these conditions. That seems like forever!!

I think I saw my first seed sprout a little green tuft last week and felt more confident as that turned into a split 'frond' and then 3 'fronds' I took that container, washed and filtered with water and then planted in a potting soil mix. I was told the soil needs to be immersed in water with a draining system so the bottom stays wet and the top can be allowed to be damp but dry out. I can't tell seeds from debris when i started out so we'll see if the one sprouted frond establishes better roots and pushes up through the potting soil.

The other container is showing more debris than usual. I almost think the seeds may have pushed off their coatings and roots might be coming but so far they are brown so hard to tell. I want to watch them in water only for another few days and then will put them in a potting soil mix as well.

I think those who bought them off ebay already 1-2 feet tall are way ahead of me, but you do these experiments to learn and to try new things...

IF I can keep even one or two alive and figure out how to transplant to the water's edge and keep them alive for one season that will be a major success for me! I probably will buy some from ebay come spring and plant those as well.

CC, there are heating mats that you can put under the grow flats to keep the soil warm too. Sort of like an electric blanket but for under the pots.

When I say 2-3 I mean plants. They are cheap and availble on eBay.

I could mail you up some if you need.

Thanks for the offer. I found a supplier and have about 50 plants in the ground in the shallows. We'll see how they do. The supplier also has 2 other colors I can try if these do OK.