Yellow/green hyacinths: What is going on?

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 06:12:03 -0500, Jim and Phyllis Hurley wrote:

Rodney,

You have added another piece of information. I had never heard a number of
hours of light needed. Where did you get the figure? Many of us have tried
holding hyacinth over the winter, only to lose them slowly, even in warmth.
Perhaps longer artificial light would help us. Any other gems of WH
knowledge? Or resources on line?

I thought I got it from this group :-)

If not it would have been in the Practical Fishkeeping magazine in the
UK. Wherever I got the information from also said that you needed very
bright artificial lighting to overwinter it. I suspect the 14 hours is
for the UK and if you are further south and get brighter sunlight they
may need less. I think they also need six hours direct sun a day to
flower (at least at our latitude) and we don't get that here due to a
30 foot cherry tree.

Longer or brighter lighting may well help you to overwinter them but
they do need a lot of it and it's likely to cost a lot more than
replacing them every season although some T5 fluorescent tubes may not
be too bad to run.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 06:12:03 -0500, Jim and Phyllis Hurley wrote:

Rodney,

You have added another piece of information. I had never heard a number of
hours of light needed. Where did you get the figure? Many of us have tried
holding hyacinth over the winter, only to lose them slowly, even in warmth.
Perhaps longer artificial light would help us. Any other gems of WH
knowledge? Or resources on line?

This site has some details on how they overwintered them

http://www.colorbat.com/hold_over.htm

They did survive but only just.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

Rodney,

Thanks for the reference. I am newly encouraged by the way our WH survive
the Southern winter by floating in the pond with plastic over them. The
leaves and some plants die back, but lots come right back in the spring. If
they are not frozen in ice (temp gets LOWER that 32 degrees) they mostly
make it. In the spring we strip the dead leaves and toss the remainder back
in. They grow well.

Cheaper than lights!

Jim

--
____________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Ask me about Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $120+ per child) at: jogathon.net

"Rodney Pont" wrote in message
news:atcfzvasbuvgflfgrzfygqhx.i1hqlf1.pminews@ihs1 ...
On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 06:12:03 -0500, Jim and Phyllis Hurley wrote:

Rodney,

You have added another piece of information. I had never heard a number
of
hours of light needed. Where did you get the figure? Many of us have
tried
holding hyacinth over the winter, only to lose them slowly, even in
warmth.
Perhaps longer artificial light would help us. Any other gems of WH
knowledge? Or resources on line?

This site has some details on how they overwintered them

http://www.colorbat.com/hold_over.htm

They did survive but only just.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

I also have found that hyacinth like to be crowed. If they are just
floating in the pond that is sometimes a problem. In the wild they will
root into the edge of the water and grow out from there.
If you take one or two of the larger ones and stick them into a pot, no dirt
needed just rocks at the bottom to anchor, and then let the babies grow from
that, they do well. My sister lives in Michigan and her weather has not
been really warm this summer and hers are still green. This way too you can
tuck a pondtab into the pot.

"Jim and Phyllis Hurley" wrote in message
. ..
Hi Tim,

We have not had a problem before this year. It may be that our koi were
happy with their catfish food and have a little less this year.
Previously,
they nibbled, but did not savage them as this year. We may need to swap
them around. In previous years, we have had a lot of smaller WH in the
pond. This year, we moved a smaller number of 18" hyacinth into the pond.

Jim

--
____________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Ask me about Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $120+ per child) at:
jogathon.net

"tim chandler" wrote in message
...
I also notice that my WH are much happier in the VF, much greener and
with
much longer roots than those in the pond where they are viciously
nibbled
at! I switch the yellower, anemic-looking ones in the pond to the VF,
and
the ones in the VF to the pond for a while...

Tim C.

"Jim and Phyllis Hurley" wrote in message
.. .
Hi BV,

We wondered if that could be the case...however, we keep feeding the
koi
and
goldfish and it seems unlikely they would starve with respect to koi
waste
food. HOWEVER, the iron has made a difference.

The berm WH are returning to their dark green selves and have
begun
to
send out daughter plants...normally this happens at a wild rate. With
the
yellowing, it essentially stopped.

The (munched-root) WH in the pond are a LOT behind, but some are
getting
green streaks in the leaves...a first step.

The munched ones we floated in the tomato fertilizer (low
nitrogen)
are
slowly greening, about like the ones in the pond.

I infer the yellowing problem was indeed iron as that alone has
changed
the
WH in the berm. I infer the secondary problem for the pond WH is
eaten
roots.

With respect to starving, I infer we did starve them of iron. Regular
potash additions seem to have handled that aspect of things.

Thanks for wrestling with our problem with us.

I am delighted that the pf is doing well for you. Until the
yellowing,
I
used to cut over a foot a week from the pf in ur u-shaped falls and
the
two
barrels with it on top.

Jim

--
____________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Ask me about Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $120+ per child) at:
jogathon.net

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in
message
...

"Jim and Phyllis Hurley" wrote in
message
...
Jan,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I will give that a try. One new container with tap water coming
up!

The ones on the berm are progressively darkening.

Jim, you and Phyllis have a pretty seriously stocked VF, could you
simply
be
starving the plants? BTW, the PF you sent me, is taking over the VF.
Literally TAKING OVER. It looks awesome.

BV.