Hen And Chickens

I flushed & rinsed my goldfish pond this afternoon & was surprised to find a plant well established in the bottom.... I've only planted the common water lilly, but above the pond (on the window sill), I have a varigated hen & chicken growing in a pot, and it seems that the "chickens" broke off somehow and just established itself in the sub strata below the water & continued growing....

Dunno if you in USA and UK know the Hen & chicken plant, but it certainly adapts to sub aquatic in ponds, and I'm now going to try it in my indoor fish tank...... Anyone got experience with this.... Can it be done??

Intriguing.... I thought that was a rockery plant. Do you have a picture of it?

We have hens & chicks in the US too. I've always seen them growing in rocky seldom watered areas. Keep us updated on how they do in the indoor tank, very interesting.

What does this plant look like?

we have some growing on rocks accros the street from our house i never would have guessed it can grow in water.

Here she is.... Being winter down here shes no looking her best, but the mother plant (hen) .... and her chickens hanging down can be seen clearly



On the left, the edges of this pond can be seen, I assume the wind must've broken off some chicks & blown them into the pond where they started propogating by runners (like Valisneria)

Yo do get a pure green variety as well.

Ludwig Venter said:

Here she is.... Being winter down here shes no looking her best, but the mother plant (hen) .... and her chickens hanging down can be seen clearly

View attachment 52431

On the left, the edges of this pond can be seen, I assume the wind must've broken off some chicks & blown them into the pond where they started propogating by runners (like Valisneria)

Yo do get a pure green variety as well.

View attachment 52432

Click to expand...

Hen and chickens is a common name that refers to two types of plants. I've seen a succulent by that name under the genus Sempervivum and there is another genus Echivaria, another succulent. The plant pictured is Chlorophytum comosum, which is called spider plant on my side of the pond, but could be hen and chicks on the other side. It is not a succulent. It has large shoots called stolons that produce daughter plants, kind of like an Amazon sword. These daughter plants can be paced in cup of water for root development. It isn't technically an aquatic plant, but it can probably survive underwater in a fashion similar to pothos species. It comes in a varigated and non-varigated form. The succulent "hen and chicks" are not aquatic plants at all, and actually do better with very little watering.

llj

Ah.... I see.... spider plants