why won't my hyacinths bloom?

[jax]

The one whole side of my pond is covered in water hyacinths.  They are big and healthy and I am constantly pulling some out of there to prevent over crowding.  The water lilies are in the center of the pond and they are healthy and then the end side is water lettuce with marginal plants all around.  I am getting no blooming of my hyacinths.  I have only had one bloom on my lily that I put in this year and one bloom from the lily plant that is two years old, although I do notice several new bulbs coming up through the center of the plant now and should be ready to bloom by the beginning of next week.  What is going on with the no blooms on the hyacinths?  I had them in the pond last year and they did well for me.  The friend who brought them to my pond though, said, they did not bloom for her.  These one's this year are from a different place entirely.  I fertilize the lilies every couple of weeks.  Everyone posts such nice flowers and I have nothing to show you.  Care to see my flower beds?  That's about all I have to offer.  Any suggestions?

[MikeW]

For some reason, hyacinths seem to bloom more when they are all squashed together and crowded.

Try not thinning them out for awhile.

Cheers,

Mike

[Julles]

Mine seem to bloom all at the same time... perhaps they like crowding AND a certain time of the year.  ??

[karen J]

For some reason, hyacinths seem to bloom more when they are all squashed together and crowded.

Try not thinning them out for awhile.

Cheers,

Mike

They are big and healthy and I am constantly pulling some out of there to prevent over crowding

That's your problem, for sure. They bloom when they are crowded.

[Ky Kim]

Yes, they love to be over crowded.  The tighter the better.

Kim

[thepitclub]

Hmm, very interesting. I wondered why mine were not blooming either. Mine are not confined, but still continue to grow larger and taller, but not spread out (in full sun, btw). My water lettuce, however, grows out of control. What gives?

[Julles]

/Water lettuce will not grow in ANY of my containers - not the pond, not the tadpole tubs, not the 5 gallon buckets sitting around here holding other plants. 

But it IS doing GREAT in a little 8" saucer about 1 ½" deep, sitting under some yard art. 

Go figure.

[jax]

  -Good thing I found this site when I did and ask questions.  I would have kept throwing out the hyacinths to prevent the over crowding and would never have seen them bloom.  Possibly that was the problem for the friend that said her's never bloomed last year so I am going to pass this along to her.  You can't hold my water lettuce down.  One small cluster in the spring into the pond has covered n entire half of the surface and I am always throwing that stuff out.  One other question please, how often should I be fertilizing the lilies?  I saw damaged lilies on here and alot suggested it was over fertilization, so, now I don't know which way to go.  Thanks everyone for all the replies you kindly submit to this ponder who is still feeling the way on these subjects.

[LeeAnne151]

Both water hyacinths and water lettuce are tropical plants that require warm water. Even in full sun, deeper ponds could be too cold for optimum growth in more northern climates.

Water hyacinths do bloom best when crowded.

Fertilizers to encourage blooming should have higher Phosphorus than Nitrogen. You want the middle number higher. 10-30-15 for example not 10-10-10 or 30-10-10. Nitrogen encourages green foliar growth. Phosphorus encourages flowering and fruiting. Jobe's tomato spikes are great for waterlilies. Cheaper than pond tabs too.

[Ky Kim]

LeeAnne is right about the Fertilizers.  I use Jobe's tomato spikes and my lily's are very happy, blooming away.

Kim

[barb]

I only had 10 water hyacinths last summer, and they bloomed in August or so.  I have many more this year and have also been tossing them out, they are taking over, still no blooms.  I think it's still too early here, my lilies only started blooming in the last week or two.  Where are you located?  Maybe it's just too soon.

[Shawn]

I use the ole hoola hoop trick...  Throw one out and put all of the Hyacinths in the middle of it... Two things are accomplished for me, they stay where I want them and they get overcrowded and bloom...  If you want more, throw in another hoola-hoop, etc..   can't tell it's a hoola hoop as they keep growing out of it usually..

[jax]

I am in central Pennsylvania.  The weather here has been mid to upper 80's and humid with a short burst every now and then in the 90's.  My water temperature stays up, except, right after I top the pond off but, it doesn't take long for it to recover. The water lettuce is growing leaps and bounds for me and the hyacinths are healthy and happy.  I don't know what is the usual time of the year for these things to bloom because I just started my pond last August and my growing season was short last year, however, I did have hyacinths blooming like crazy in August and they were not particularly crowed in there last season as they didn't have time to spread that well.  I am putting pond tabs into the lilies each two weeks and am noticing just this week more buds are beginning to form in the plant now, instead of just pads.  I am going to send pictures as soon as I have some since I have no names for my lilies as the landscaper that built my pond  put the initial beginning flowers in it and did not tell me what type of lilies he was giving me, and, the one I put in this spring certainly isn't what the tag had it named. I am hoping you all will be able to give me some names once I have something to submit to you.  Haven't weeded out the hyacinths since I posted for help but I am going to have to thin the lettuce.  It's a maniac in there. I'll remember the tip on the tomatoe sticks. I am assuming there is nothing in those that could hurt fish or frogs, right? Still need to know how often to fertlize them for sure though. Please let me know and thanks.