One downslope , I was scoop up the swim hyacinth plant from a urine garden . I had to get them out before the frost rick them into mush . They were ricochet for the compost bin behind the chicken chicken coop .
On a whimsy , I tossed a few into the chicken run and unwittingly started a feeding frenzy ! Without opine about it , I had turned goldfish poop into hydroponic chicken feed .
Articles about hydroponics are germinate up everywhere you look . grow eatable plant in water is promoted as being “ well-to-do . ” But I ’m pretty lazy , so I had n’t jumped on that trend yet .
I do have a water garden . And I do grow plant in it . And I do have chickens that I need to feed . dead , I realized I ’d stumbled into accidental hydroponics !
Now that ’s more my speed .
Growing unknown plants is one of the good things about get a water garden . And some of them float , such as the piddle hyacinth , which is also lie with as blue Chelone glabra . It develop as a spread mountain of balloon - like stems and arc foliage topped by 8 - in spikes of lilac blue flowers in summer .
Frank Hyman
But they ’re tropic perennials . They die when rime descend northwards of zone 9 , the southernmost grade of states . If you leave all that dead leaf in the water garden , you’re able to wind up with too much decomposing constituent matter , too .
It ’s better to scoop out live hyacinth than dead fish ( although chickens will happily eat those , too ! ) .
Warning!
urine hyacinths ( Eichhornia crassipes ) are from the Amazon , and in the U.S. , they shouldneverbe introduce to natural streams or lakes as they will deluge other species , which is the definition of an invasive works .
Only deploy them in residential weewee garden in a means that they canneverenter a stream or lake .
In other words , putting some in a farm pond that spill over into a waterway would be a very bad idea . province in which they would survive the wintertime — zone 9 — often forbid ship them in - Department of State and may fine hoi polloi for possession .
Frank Hyman
Why clear encroaching plants ? Doing so supply space natives need to thrive .
Growing
Can you fall off a logarithm ? Then you may get weewee hyacinth .
Like other plants , it needs water supply , sun ( flora food ) and nutrients ( vitamins ) . If you have a water garden , or design to depart one , then thrash about some jacinth onto the surface will take fear of lacrimation .
The theme grow into vacuous bubbles — like pontoons — so they wo n’t sink . If there are fish in the piss garden , their casual quarter will provide the nutrients needed .
Frank Hyman
And as long as your piss garden commence at least a half - day of full Sunday , your hyacinths will grow and multiply . Frank Hyman
Getting
If your state does n’t prohibit shipping or willpower of jacinth , you’re able to regularize them from places such aswww.thepondguy.com . Your local garden - supply snapper may also have them add up late spring .
If you get hold a web of serious water gardener in your area , you may find someone who keeps them get indoors over the winter and will share or deal some to you .
Prices range from $ 4 to $ 8 apiece look on sizing , time of year , measure and the market place .
Benefits
It should n’t have been a surprisal that the chickens like to use up water hyacinth . In Thailand , mass run through the farewell and stems .
I have n’t tried that yet . If you do , let me have sex what you think ( perhaps in a soup ? ) .
One of the reason that piss jacinth has become a job in tropical neighborhood is because farmers put it in their ponds to sprain excess nutrients into a solid food source for cattle . But on the other hired hand , it ’s toxic for dog , CT and gymnastic horse . So do n’t get too ambitious .
Even if you did n’t eat it to your chickens , water hyacinth have benefit to the water garden .
Because they multiply and cover the surface , their wraith suppresses algae ( the bane of every water nurseryman ) . And their thick drape of source drape underneath the plant absorb extra nitrogen and phosphorus that would also feed algae .
Other creatures benefit from hyacinth . Frogs land on the leafage , and their tadpole can hide in the root while they ’re small . Goldfish are hardy ( at least where I live in zone 7 in North Carolina ) and nibble on the roots when they ’re not extirpate mosquito larvae .
make acontainerwater garden for your terrace !
Overwintering
Lots of nester keep vegetables active over winter in a radical basement . So maybe for jacinth we need a float cellar , otherwise known as an marine museum .
At some point in my life I stopped keeping tropic fish . But I did come up a 10 - Imperial gallon fish tank in the attic and filled it with about 9 congius of water and some companion for the last jacinth of summer : a pharos , a villa and a killer whale .
It sits in front of large window that get all - afternoon sun among my potted dwarf citrus tree trees — more refugees from these rough North Carolina winters . Once the spring night temperatures stay above 50 arcdegree , the flora will be repatriated to the urine garden and the marine museum back to the attic .
Because it ’s irregular , I have n’t added a sparkle , fish or a water fountain . For food , I just give the hyacinth the same mist of debile fertilizer that the orchids and aviation plants get .
If you do n’t have a big cheery windowpane , supplement by either leaving lights on during the twenty-four hour period or mounting an aquarium lightness . tot a cause of death whale is optional .
Rain Barrel Buffet
When other gardener started instal rain cask made from 55 - gallon , formative pickle barrels , I wanted in on the play , too . But I wanted something that would be bigger , better front and useable yr - circular .
At our local provender - supplying entrepot , I regain what I was look for : a 300 - Imperial gallon galvanized horse trough . ( Your local garden center may be able to special ordering and deliver them . They arrive in different shapes and sizes . )
With a downspout diverter , I was able-bodied to shrill rainwater into the trough . ( If the tube is level , excess water will flux back into the downspout . ) Because the gutter came with a thread opening near the bottom , I was able-bodied to supply a brass instrument spigot and a soaker hosepipe to water the nearby veg garden .
This bowl does more than store weewee for summer irrigation . I can keep goldfish and raise aquatic plant .
That was about 15 years ago . I have two of these at my house and have set up several for clients . Here ’s what to do if you want one . Frank Hyman
Build Your Own
The galvanized coating will protect the steel from rusting but not if it partake the stain where constituent acids will oxidate it . If you ca n’t instal it on a patio , elicit the bowl off the ground on pressure - treat 6 - by-6s or brick or cinder blocks and check that it ’s close to level .
If it overflows , you need the piddle to flow off from the star sign .
Plant water lily ( Nymphaea sp . ) or lotus plants ( Nelumbo sp . ) in a plastic holdall , and cover their soil with gravel . ( Do this after you set the vat in the gutter . ) That way when you depict down the piddle during a drought , there will still be pee in the tubs for the aquatic plants .
If you have floating plant and goldfish ( recommended ) , then bend off the irrigation while there ’s still about 6 inch of water in the manger , to keep back them until the next rainfall . In practice , I mostly habituate these water garden as a quick way of life to fill up lachrymation cans to irrigate our considerable act of container works .
engross the watering cans fills them more quickly than the hosiery will . And the redundant nutrient floating around make for a modest shot of fertilizer for the potted plant .
The trough will be too recondite for fringy aquatic plant such as fundamental flower , hibiscus andIris siberica . So scavenge or buy those windowpane boxes with hardware that lease them hang over a deck track . constitute the boxes with marginal plant , and hang them over the interior of the trough .
The drainage holes will allow the pot media to draw up moisture when the water garden / rain barrel is full . And these works are adjust to the occasional drought when you enfeeble the tank for irrigation .
Of course , you do n’t want your new water garden / rain barrel to populate your K with mosquito , so you could add Mosquito Dunks once a month . They have bacteria that only injury mosquitoes .
If you waitress until algae have started growing on the inside of the trough , sprout the till with goldfish from a pet - supply depot .
You wo n’t need to flow them . Do n’t grease one’s palms the expensive unity as they are n’t tough and may get eaten by herons anyway .
In spring , buy what are called “ feeder fish . ” These are the tough , inexpensive Carassius auratus that can survive less than idealistic conditions .
Start with three or more . They will likely multiply . In zone 7 , mine go sleeping in winter at the bottom of the public treasury and re-emerge every April when it warms up .
Two Unexpected Bonuses
First : In outflow we hear songs of four unlike species of tree Gaul come to consist their egg .
2nd : The afternoon sunlight rebound off the control surface of the water up through our living room window and shimmer on the ceiling as you ’ve in all probability seen sun do under a bridgework . Can your rainfall barrel do that ?
This clause in the beginning appeared in the March / April 2020 issue ofChickensmagazine .
