The best way to grow aquatic plants depends primarily on the species in question. In this guide you will get to know the cultivation from seeds in detail and you will also learn which vegetative methods are useful for which plants.

Water lilies form rhizomes

Propagation by seeds

Some marsh and aquatic plants can basically be grown from seeds - as follows:

  1. Collect mature seeds from mature infructescences in late summer or fall.
  2. Keep seeds moist and cool until sowing (otherwise they will dry out and take a lot longer to germinate). Important: If you do not want to sow the seeds until next spring, you must store them in a cool and dry place, otherwise they will develop mold, which is of course undesirable.
  3. Use a plate as a seed tray. Line this with cellulose and moisten with a spray bottle. Then spread the seeds evenly over the pulp. Finally cover the whole thing with transparent foil.
  4. As soon as the seedlings appear, prick them out and then place them in a shallow plastic box with potting soil. Put this container in a slightly larger bowl. Fill the latter with water - until the soil with the seedlings is about three centimeters under water.
  5. Transplant the young plants into individual pots as soon as they outgrow the water surface. Place these pots in a glass or plastic aquarium filled with water.
  6. From April the aquatic plants can move to the garden pond.

However, there are also easier - i.e. less tedious - ways to grow aquatic plants. In addition, not all pond plants develop fruits and seeds under local climatic conditions. Therefore, in case of doubt, vegetative offspring is usually better suited.

An overview of vegetative methods

If you want to grow water lilies with a rootstock, you have to cut out the eyes on this rootstock with a knife.

For water lilies that form rhizomes, separate rhizome suckers from the mother plant. Do the same with riparian plants with rhizome-like roots.

In contrast, in the case of a bank plant with an onion-like root tuber, the rootstock must be pulled apart. This also applies to native floating plants that are not sensitive to frost. You can grow exotic floating plants in a well-lit, warm-water aquarium indoors (separate offshoots with daughter plants from the mother plant).

In the case of completely submerged aquatic plants, you should cultivate them from cuttings.

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Care tips