As I have emphasized in my publications on organic fertilizers, these fertilizers are substances consisting of wastes of animal, vegetable or mixed origin that are added to the soil in order to improve its physical, biological and chemical characteristics. They may consist of crop residues left in the field after harvest; green manure crops (mainly nitrogen-fixing legumes).
▶ In addition, organic residues from farming (manure, slurry); organic residues from the processing of agricultural products; domestic waste (household garbage, excreta); compost prepared with mixtures of the above-mentioned compounds, and also fresh material based on aquatic plants such as Eichhornia crassipes are used to produce organic products of the highest quality.
▶ Credits: Aquariumadviser. – [Image of Public Domain]
These types of aquatic plant-based fertilizers not only provide the soil with nutrients, but also have a positive influence on the soil structure. They also provide nutrients and modify the population of microorganisms in general, thus ensuring the formation of aggregates that allow greater water retention, gas and nutrient exchange at the plant root level.
For example, Eichhornia crassipes is an aquatic plant commonly called bora flower, camalote, common water hyacinth, tarope or tarulla, this aquatic plant of the pontederiaceae family. It is native to the fresh waters of the warm regions of South America, in the Amazon and Plata basins. It is used as a medicinal plant, soil fertilizer and decorative; outside its original niche it is considered an invasive species.
Its stem is extremely short vegetative; leaves in rosettes, ascending to extended; short petioles, swollen (bulbous), with aerenchymatous tissue; with leaf dimorphism when growing in groups: purely ascending leaves and elongated petioles and less swollen; laminae from 2 to 16 cm. Inflorescence: spike; flowers blue to light blue, and a yellow spot on the upper lobe of the perianth; fruit: 1.5 cm capsule.
This plant inhabits freshwater bodies such as: rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs in the tropics and subtropics located at latitudes no higher than 40°N and 45°S. Temperatures below 0 ℃ affect their growth as well as high salinity. However, eutrophicated water bodies containing high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium as well as water contaminated with heavy metals such as copper and lead do not limit its growth as it can anchor and root in water-saturated soils for a short period.
NOTE: Reference material.