How To Grow Water Wisteria In A Pond

Water Wisteria Overview:

Water Wisteria is a great addition to your pond. It can cultivate when submerged in water, & you can transplant & propagate this plant simply so they are rated for beginners. You can find this plant at many fish shops & also you can get them from garden supply & pond equipment centers. It does not need much care & maintenance & can grow in harsh conditions. It can provide the role of an oxygenator & can help meet the biological requirements of the inhabitants of pond.

Other names of Water wisteria are ruellia triflora, hygrophila difformis, & ruellia difformis. This plant grows green leaves that look like ferns. The leaves can cultivate up to 10 centimeters. They can grow in opposite direction from each other from little branches. The leaves on vertical branches of the plant that reach the surface of water alter in shape & they start cultivating while floating on surface. If you are adding this plant to float on the water surface, it can flower too. The leaves of water wisteria & branches are weak. Branches will grow in both horizontal & vertical directions. The horizontal runners can make root in the gravel beneath & can produce vertical branches too. The runners will finally change its direction to continue as vertical branches.

This plant will cultivate at quickest rate when submerged & kept in medium light. It can even happily grow but a little slowly if kept in low light.  It can survive in pH ranging from 5 to 9 & the ideal water temp. for this plant is from 20 – 28 Degree-Centigrade. It is a tropical plant.

Summary:

• Category: Rating
• Family: Acanthaceae
• Care: Beginner
• Growth Rate: Quick
• Max Size: 20 inches
• Min Aquarium Size: 10 gallons
• Water Conditions: 70-82°F, pH 6.5-7.5, KH 2-8
• Light: Medium to High
• Propagate: Side Shoots / Cutting
• Placement: Background or Carpet

Origin of Water Wisteria:

It is a tough plant that was originally considered as an ornamental aquarium plant but people now keep it in ponds & water gardens. Water wisteria was first discovered in India, Malaysia & Thailand. It does not need high maintenance & gives required nutrition to the ecosystem in your pond.

Propagate Water Wisteria:

This plant can simply propagate itself. The ends of the floating branches can break off the plant into little pieces. The little floating pieces that can make into gravel bed can grow roots & make fresh plants.

You can also propagate this plant from cutting. Just cut off a branch with just 6 leaves on it. Trim the bottom 2 leaves off & then put it in a netted pot and fill the pot with gravel and put it inside the pond. They will produce roots quickly.

Water Wisteria Tank Condition:

It is simple to cultivate this plant & it would not be a big trouble even you have just started this fish hobby. It is a tough plant & even though it grows in the wild during rainy season, you can grow it in tank throughout the year.

Water Wisteria cultivate well in moderate light in high nutrition water & substrate, also it can grow well if you provide extra carbon-dioxide & can grow from cutting. The plant can even grow in low light, & require even lower conditions than mentioned. You can grow it in as small as 10-gallon aquarium.

Your aquarium will look beautiful with bright green colors. Grow your plant in a 10-gallon aquarium with soft to moderately hard water, keep the temp. b/w 20 to 20 Degree-Celsius & a recommended pH between 6.5 to 7.5.

Summary:

• Size of Water Wisteria: It can reach from 7.8 to 19 inches
• Color of Water Wisteria: Bright green fine feathered leaves
• Minimum Aquarium Size: 10 gallons
• Care Level of Water Wisteria: Simple
• Water Conditions: 20 to 28 Degree-Celsius, pH from 6.5 to 7.5, Hardness from 2 to 8 KH
• Water Wisteria Tank Lighting: Moderate to High (though it can cultivate even in low-light aquariums)

Grow Water Wisteria in Pond:

It is simple to cultivate this plant & people usually grow it in tank or pond. Moderate to high light condition is ideal for its growth but it can even grow in low light. If your pond is visible to direct sunlight, then you don’t need to worry about light condition.

It can take advantage of carbon dioxide & you can add fertilizer if your pond has low nutrition produced by fish waste.

Keep temperature of tank warm for best growth of this plant. If you are keeping this plant with fish, then select the species that don’t eat plants.

Water wisteria can cultivate either floating or rooted in a substrate, in shallow water.

It can cultivate up to 20 inches in height & 10 inches wide, but if tank conditions are not well suited, such as in case of low light, it can cultivate narrower leaves & it is smaller in size.

Planting water wisteria

I took water wisteria & put it in a netted pot. Then gently filled the pot with gravel to save plant from getting damage. Make sure the stem or plant & roots are not hurt & the plant is in the center of the pot before filling it up with gravel. Also pick a large netted pot because water wisteria can grow up to 50 cm & it grows really fast so make sure you are pre-prepared for future challenges.

Introducing water wisteria to pond

Then give a good rinse so that impurities on the gravel are washed out. Quickly put the pot at the bottom of the pond & make sure it is completely submerged in water. Fill the pond slowly with de-chlorinated water. Run the filter & you are good to go.

Floating Water Wisteria:

Other than plating this plant in the gravel, it can float on the surface of water. The process is completed either temporarily before water wisteria sprouts enough roots to anchor in the gravel or permanently for providing cover.

Floating water wisteria is not a difficult process, & put it easily on the surface of water for its growth.

Roots of the plant can sprout at random places, & being closer to light or sunlight, it will cultivate quickly & it will need trimming sooner if the plant were planted in the gravel.

Floating water wisteria will absorb nutrition from the water using its floating roots, such as you can use fish waste as fertilizer for water wisteria. Water wisteria won’t require additional fertilization.

Floating plant have their leaves turned upright & the roots of water wisteria is hanging in the water, which is advantageous when you want to offer cover for baby fish & surface fish.

It can grow excessively in direct sunlight & fertilizer “fish waste”, so make sure they are available in enough quantity for ideal condition.

Water Wisteria Carpet Effect:

If you wish to create carpet effect from water wisteria, cultivate your stems on their side & root them together. Only the roots that are facing upwards should cultivate & can form the carpet layer.

Even though this plant can create a better carpet in your pond, its leaves are very big & the gap b/w needles is too much, also water wisteria gets sort of tall.

If you want to create a perfect carpet effect, then consider a plant that has long roots along its stem that anchor in different parts of the gravel which causes the plant to crawl across the bottom.

Start water wisteria sideways & trim it to keep it from growing upward.

Putting water wisteria sideways will make sure that leaves of the plant only cultivate side of the stem for growing like a carpet & in a short time.

Water Wisteria Care & Maintenance:

Water Wisteria is one of the quickest growing plants, so this plant needs trimming in order to keep its size in control.

Control size of waster wisteria by trimming back the stems once they overgrow to take over space of your fishes.

It is suggested to trim new growths before the make room & become independent plants as opposed to cutting the main plant. If water wisteria grows bigger in size, then it is fine to remove part of the shoots to keep fresh plant from sprouting roots.

Water wisteria care & maintenance

It is suggested to keep trimmed parts of water wisteria out of aquarium to keep them from falling in the gravel & cultivate into fresh plants. Debris of plant floating in the water can sprout & grow into fresh plants too.

This plant can cultivate quickly & needs a lot of nutrition, but you can control its size by trimming it so that you can save space of your aquarium where fish can swim & also trim height of plant so that it does not cross boundary of aquarium. Also it is advisable to control the growth of water wisteria either by putting more quick growing plants or change water regularly to take nitrate out of tank otherwise they can help wisteria to grow abruptly out of control.

Pros & cons of Water Wisteria in pond:

Many fish can be kept in water wisteria pond without any issues, but few of them should not be introduced. The leaves of the plant are best for nipping & some fish will take benefit of the leaves.

This is a beautiful & tough plant recommended for beginners & you can keep it in as low as 10-gallon tank or a small pond. It is very easy to propagate this plant in pond. When water wisteria fully grows up, the leaves of it offer extensive foliage that is a good choice for the pond background. You can put this plant on its side to carpet the foreground of the pond as root will develop out of almost any part of water wisteria.

It is among the simpler plants that need low maintenance when kept in a pond. The size of the plant could be too large such as its height can reach 20 inches when kept in its typical position, so it is suitable for the background of pond. The growth of the plant is upward & outward, & a single bunch can be 10 inches in width, so it is suitable for pond & need to be trimmed if your pond size is small.

There is no need of extra carbon-dioxide or excessive lighting. Because of thin width of water wisteria leaves, this plant is not recommended for pond with plant eating fish including goldfish, cray fish, or large cichlids.