How to cultivate aquatic flowers? The latest cultivation techniques and methods tutorial

Aquatic flowers are an important part of ornamental plants in gardens, courtyards and waterscape gardens. They generally refer to ornamental plants that grow in water or swamps. Their habit, clearly different from other flowers, is that their demand for and dependence on water is far greater than that of other categories, thus also forming their unique habit. Now let us take a look at the cultivation techniques for aquatic flowers!

Cultivation value of aquatic flowers

Aquatic flowers are important materials for arranging waterscape gardens. A lake or pond may use multiple species, or only one species, forming scenic areas and scenic spots with unique charm together with garden buildings such as pavilions, waterside pavilions, halls and lodges. Large lakes can be planted with submerged species such as bitter cress, lakesides and swamps can be planted with marsh plants, and medium and small ponds are suitable for planting medium and small forms of lotus or water lilies, water hyacinths, etc. For ponds with piled mountains and stacked rocks, cattail and sweet flag are suitable for planting at the pond corners and banks, while in the rock crevices of rockeries and waterfalls or in the stone gaps beside streams, aquatic iris, rush, etc. are suitable for planting. However, the quantity of aquatic flowers used for waterscape arrangement should not be too large; they should be arranged with proper density, with beautiful water and abundant flowers, and plants should not completely cover the water surface.

Common types of aquatic flowers

1. Emergent plants: lotus, bowl lotus, reed, cattail, wild rice stem, water onion, giant reed, water bamboo, sweet flag, pampas grass, black three-spined etc.

2. Floating plants: water lily, water hyacinth, duckweed, spatterdock, Nymphoides peltata, arrowhead, water caltrop, fox nut, small floating lotus, etc., mainly plants of the Nymphaeaceae family.

3. Submerged plants: bitter weed, black algae, hornwort, Myriophyllum, lantern algae, Potamogeton, prickly algae, bladderwort, etc., mainly aquatic grass types.

4. Emergent herbs: canna, pickerelweed, purple loosestrife, Thalia dealbata, aquatic iris, red knotweed, Pennisetum, cattail grass, Alisma, etc., plants suitable for growing at the water's edge.

Propagation techniques for aquatic flowers

1. Seed propagation: The sowing method for aquatic flowers is to sow the seeds in a pot with culture soil, cover with sand or soil, and then immerse the pot in water. The immersion process should be carried out gradually, from shallow to deep. The germination speed of seeds varies by species. Cold-tolerant species germinate more slowly, requiring 3 months to 1 year, while non-cold-tolerant species germinate faster, germinating about 10 days after sowing. Sowing can be done indoors or outdoors. Indoor conditions are easy to control, while outdoor water temperature is difficult to control, often affecting the germination rate.

2. Division propagation: Most aquatic flowers grow in clumps or have underground rhizomes, and can be directly divided or have their rhizomes cut into several sections for planting. When dividing rhizomes, note that each section must have a terminal bud and tail root, otherwise it will be difficult to form a plant. The division and planting period is generally in spring and autumn; some non-cold-tolerant ones can be done in late spring and early summer.

Cultivation techniques for aquatic flowers

1. Sunlight: Most aquatic plants need sufficient sunlight, especially during the growth period (that is, between April and October each year). If sunlight is insufficient, phenomena such as leggy growth, small and thin leaves, and failure to bloom may occur.

2. Soil: Except for floating plants, which do not need bottom soil, planting other types of aquatic plants requires field soil, pond mud and other organic clayey soil as bottom soil, with a surface layer of coarse sand with a diameter of 1 to 2 cm, which can prevent water turbidity caused by irrigation or vibration.

⟦NL>3. Fertilization: Use oil cake and bone meal fertilizer balls as base fertilizer. About four or five fertilizer balls placed in the corners of the container is enough. Waterside plants do not need base fertilizer. For topdressing, use chemical fertilizer instead of organic fertilizer to avoid polluting water quality, and the amount used should be ten times thinner than for ordinary plants.

4. Water level: Aquatic plants have different requirements for water depth according to their growth habits. Floating plants are the simplest, requiring only enough water depth to float. For submerged plants, the water height must exceed the plant, allowing stems and leaves to extend naturally. Waterside plants should keep the soil moist and slightly waterlogged. Because the stems and leaves of emergent plants extend above the water surface, a water depth of about 50 cm to 1 m must be maintained. Floating-leaved plants are more troublesome; the water level must be adjusted according to the length of the stems and stalks, so that the leaves float on the water surface in a natural state.

5. Thinning: If various aquatic plants are mixed and planted in the same pond, fast-propagating species must be thinned regularly to avoid covering the water surface and affecting the growth of water lilies or other submerged plants. When floating plants become too large and their leaves shade each other, division must also be carried out.

6. Changing water: To avoid mosquito breeding or water quality deterioration, water must be changed when the water becomes turbid, and in summer the frequency of water changes must be increased.