hi, i live in hawaii and have a small pond with a turtle...recently, i put in a water hyacinth plant, and ive already noticed large strands of roots have already been bit off by the turtle..

i dont want the plant to die, so, how does it reproduce exactly? i know it grows quick, but, when it grows, does that single plant just get biger and wider?, or does another bunch just pop up?/

is there a way i could splt the single hyacinth into two?

thanks.

Turtles love to eat water hyacinth as you've found. I'm surprised it's legal there; I would think they'd have it on the invasive plant species list.

Water hyacinth normally reproduce by simply growing and splitting apart. The plant sprouts more of those bulbous green arms until there are enough that they grow on separate root systems and can split. They usually have this little green "arm" attaching the "baby" to the parent. That may break on its own but you can also break it. If you don't see that little green "rope bridge" to break, don't try to tear the hyacinth apart. In confined conditions, water hyacinth flower to produce seed.

You can buy floating plant protectors (at least here) or make your own to protect the water hyacinth. Of course, turtles probably can just climb up into that so that may not work unless it's fully enclosed.

You may want to put the water hyacinth into a small pond without animals to let it grow some. Once you have "babies" to break off the original, you can put some back with the turtle to eat.

Guess I'm alittle bored tonight. lol I just looked it up. Water hyacinth, lettuce,and lily are all on the Hawaii Invasive Plant list. Looks like the hyacinth is highly discouraged to grow, but not illegal. Timm, I'd check with your local laws..just to make sure it's okay in your area.

if they sell it at Home Depot, i think its fine...i live near downtown, the free way is a hundred feet from my house...i dont think that hyacinth is going anywhere

Make sure that the hyacynth doesnt get into any natural waterways please!

1. Just because a store sells a plant (or animal) doesn't mean it's legal.
2. Just because you live in the city doesn't mean a plant or animal couldn't get out into the wild. Imagine a large bird plucks your water hyacinth from the pond, flies 5 miles, and dumps it into a natural waterway. Voila! Water hyacinth spreads like mad in warm climates.

Anyway, it sounds like the turtle will take care of it for you! I'm guessing the turtle isn't native either. To protect the turtle (and keep him and the water hyacinth in the pond), you may want to net the top of the pond (elevate the net off the land/water using support structures).