Water Lettuce, unlike other aquatics, can be grown in small containers as well as large. With petal shaped leaves that grow in a flower like arrangement, these plants look pretty floating in water. They grow very fast and can easily multiply. Just one of these 'flowers' put in a container can turn into 4-5 in a week. It took me quite some time to understand what makes them grow - after several months of false starts where they withered and died, it finally dawned that they needed soil with a good amount of organic content within reach of their tiny hair-like roots. I had earlier put them in containers where the water level was way too high for the roots to reach the soil beneath and they did not like that.
The best way to grow them is to put them in shallow but wide containers that can hold water upto 3-4 inches above the soil level. Or if you really need to use a deep container raise the soil level so that the water depth is maintained low.
Old stoneware pots that are chipped and broken provide a quaint setting for growing Water Lettuce - you could pop them in nooks and corners or near the gate to add a touch of charm to your garden. Or if you could get your hands on old granite containers that were used for feeding cattle in villages, that would look great too. Most of the antique shops lining the East Coast Road have quite a variety of these.
Water Lettuce is resistant to most insects - except for an odd caterpiller that has lost its way. However be sure to keep them where they get direct sunlight at least for 3-4 hours a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment