Water Lettuce Care

Keep the water current at slow rate during introduction, but once established, the filter can be turned to its maximum speed. Outdoors, it will easily grown on still water in full sun to part shade.This plant prefers slightly acidic waters (6.5-7.2) and moderate hardness (5-20 KH).

Pistia stratiotes is such a vigorous grower it sometimes uses up one or more nutrients in the pond. This can especially be a problem in very small ponds and ponds with very few fish. There are two ways of fertilizing this plant. If there are only a few, float them in a bucket of liquid fertiliser for a few hours at a time. If there are too many lettuce to remove from the pond, treat the entire pond with a solution of Muriate of Potash. This plant and other floating plants also usually respond well to any of the micro nutrient solutions specially made for pond plants.

Outdoors, Pistia stratiotes thrives in full sun, but needs some midday shade. Indoors, they will need a bright lit position; a south window is best, but artificial lighting may still be necessary. A typical 10-12 hours light cycle suits this plant.Most starter Pistia stratiotes plants were grown under partial shade (in slat houses), so is recommended to protect them from full sun for a week or two. Full sun will not kill them, but it can bleach tender young leaves. If the plants come from full sun, skip this step.Pistia stratiotes grows faster in full sun. Their rosettes stay tighter looking better when grown in partial shade. Either way, Pistia stratiotes provides good cover for ponds.

This is a floating plant and should never be planted in the substrate. If Pistia stratiotes starter plants have a good root system, just toss them in the water. Otherwise, prop them up and they will root.

Water temperature should be between: 20 – 28°C (68 – 82°F). The water temperature should never drop bellow 10°C (50°F) for Pistia stratiotes safety.

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