How Long Will My Elodea Take?

[Carp4U]

I bought 2 bunches of Elodea recently and weighed them down and let them sink to my pond floor. The pond has quite strong sun but is only about 2.5 ft deep (guess). It was already about 20cm long, about 30 now, how long do you think it will take for it to reach the surface of my pond completely?

 

[Colin_T]

Elodia does best when it is planted in a nutrient rich substrate. You can use a 2litre icecream bucket and put some red clay and lawn fertiliser in the bottom. Then cover it with gravel and plant the Elodia into the gravel. it will develop roots that will tap into the nutrients and then the plant will take off. Under ideal conditions it can grow a couple of inches per day.

 

[Carp4U]

cheers, but how long will it take to grow if it is jus sunk at the bottom in a bunch?

 

[Colin_T]

if there is lots of nutrients in the water and there is plenty of light then it should grow at a similar rate. If there isn't any nutrients in the water, or low light then it will grow slowly.

 

[Carp4U]

thanks, is there another nutrient rich alternative to using red clay and lawn fertilizer which is more commonly available?

 

[Colin_T]

you can buy Laterite which is red clay and aquarium or pond fertiliser tablets, both are available from the LFS.