Planting starwort

[Bellfamily]

Hi, my new pond I created at the beginning of the year (lots of advice gained from this website) is totally magic and full of wildlife already! I have green water at the moment but by reading threads I know to expect this until the pond has properly established itself.

However, I have just bought some starwort to hopefully cover the surface a bit more as it gets full sun at the moment during most of the day while the sun is higher. During the colder months the roof of my house gets in the way! A bit of a design flaw as initally I was concerned it wouldn't get any sun, you live and learn!

How do I plant the starwort? It has been delivered in some little bunches but I am not quite sure how to plant it and where it should go and would appreciate some advice.
Many thanks.

[N0z]

I learnt how to pot up and divide pond plants from this guy pondguru's Channel - YouTube
and heres the video i watched and learnt to do it
HOW TO - Pot up and divide pond plants - YouTube
and i have to say its worked very well for my plants so i think he knows what hes talking about , i literally have had no marginals fail using this method so i recommend watching it

[King Edward]

You should just be able to weight each bunch of starwort down with a stone on the bottom of the pond. Ideally somewhere where there's some sediment (or sand/gravel) on the bottom for it to root into. It would be worth positioning the bunches at different depths if you have deeper/shallow areas, to give it a chance to find where it grows best.

I'm surprised you still have green water, since usually filter feeders such as Daphnia multiply and clear it very quickly (blanketweed is another matter).

[Bellfamily]

Originally Posted by King Edward

You should just be able to weight each bunch of starwort down with a stone on the bottom of the pond. Ideally somewhere where there's some sediment (or sand/gravel) on the bottom for it to root into. It would be worth positioning the bunches at different depths if you have deeper/shallow areas, to give it a chance to find where it grows best.

Does the top of the plant have to be near the surface?

Originally Posted by King Edward

I'm surprised you still have green water, since usually filter feeders such as Daphnia multiply and clear it very quickly (blanketweed is another matter).

I haven't added anything to the pond that hasn't found it's own way there, will Daphnia be present? My water is very green but fortunately no blanket weed. I suspect the sun is the culprit as I don't have great surface cover plants at the moment, only a few frogbit and duckweed! At the begining of the year I had watercress but this has since died off so I thought I would get starwort. It is only a very small pond.

[King Edward]

Originally Posted by Bellfamily

Does the top of the plant have to be near the surface?

Not necessarily, but it would be worth trying some in relatively shallow water rather than just putting it all in the deep. Especially if the water's green, submerged plants might grow poorly.

Originally Posted by Bellfamily

I haven't added anything to the pond that hasn't found it's own way there, will Daphnia be present?

I don't know, why don't you look? I find they're most visible at night with a torch (especially a waterproof torch that can be submerged below the surface) - they show up better this way, plus they're attracted to light. If not, you could introduce some from an existing pond. Since the water's staying green, it may be that Daphnia and other filter feeding crustaceans such as copepods are absent.

[Billabong Karen]

Brilliant idea about the waterproof torch KE, will 'borrow' my fiance's diving torch and get out to the pond tonight myself!

[Bellfamily]

Fab, thanks for your help, I will have a look tonight.

[AfternoonLemon]

If I could just resurrect this thread..

I've just bought a couple of bunches of Common Starwort, and am slightly unsure if I've 'planted' it properly. I've heard some say you can literally just through them in and they'll find their way, and then others (like King Edward in this thread) say to weight them down to the bed of the pond.

The trouble is that it was really difficult to get the strands of the bunches assembled into any kind of order, and I'm a little concerned that I've not got it quite right.

Will it adapt and orientate itself? Should I pour some sand or something around the stone that I've weighted it down with?

[King Edward]

I don't think you need to fuss too much over it. If the conditions are right, starwort and many other water plants are capable of rooting and growing from pretty small fragments. The one thing I wouldn't do is plant it too deep initially, especially if the water quality's not brilliant and it would be likely to be overgrown by algae. Weighted down in shallowish water (maybe <1' deep) round the edge or in amongst other plants would probably be fine.

Regarding orientation, plants know which way is up/down so that's not really a problem.

[AfternoonLemon]

Originally Posted by King Edward

I don't think you need to fuss too much over it. If the conditions are right, starwort and many other water plants are capable of rooting and growing from pretty small fragments. The one thing I wouldn't do is plant it too deep initially, especially if the water quality's not brilliant and it would be likely to be overgrown by algae. Weighted down in shallowish water (maybe <1' deep) round the edge or in amongst other plants would probably be fine.

Regarding orientation, plants know which way is up/down so that's not really a problem.

Thanks, I think I'm maybe over-worrying it a bit! It is planted less than a foot deep, so I think it will be fine. I say planted, but 'positioned' is more accurate - I'm hoping it will root by itself.