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Reader q&a on watercress problems:

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General Information
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Question

I picked some watercress from a stream a little over a week ago. Any ideas on how to get it to grow successfully in a domesticated environment?


The Green Chronicle replies...

I have known watercress to root in a jar of water, and in theory you could rescue some to grow at home, however, it generally likes running water, so unless you have a running stream or water feature in your garden I think you might be hard-pressed to make a go of cultivating your own watercress. If you do then wait until the roots are well developed and plant out in shallow water preferably in a bed of sand or fine gravel. Growing watercress successfully is actually quite a complicated business. Maybe you could try it in an oxygenated fish tank, but there is an alternative. Get yourself some American land cress seeds and sow them now somewhere where you can keep them well watered. The result will be a tasty crop, as good as watercress with no need for running water, when it goes to seed collect the seed, or let it do its own thing, and it might just naturalise. Please do experiment with the watercress, but don't pin your hopes on it unless you are prepared to create a watercress bed especially for the plants.


Question

My niece has a moving small stream running through her property, and would very much like to try growing water cress. Could you give me some starting advice and should the water be tested? Thank you so much.


The Green Chronicle replies...

I have seen watercress grown in beds constructed alongside a stream with water taken from the stream run through the beds - walled beds with a gravel base and a covering of sand - and of course in the wild watercress enjoys streams with shallow gravel or sandy banks. The best way to start - if the watercourse has a suitable habitat - is to raise seedlings in modules or pots and then to plant them out when they are a few weeks old. The plants do not want to be under water so it must be shallow, neither do they want to be in very fast flowing water. All in all you might be best to try to modify a place along the bank for watercress planting. As far as water quality is concerned, commercial growers have to use spring water straight from the ground. For home consumption the decision must be yours. The traditional wisdom is to avoid watercress from streams near where sheep graze because of the danger of liver fluke - very very nasty!  I wish you luck, but bear in mind that you might have to experiment a little bit to get the conditions just right for watercress. Raise enough plants, always keeping them very well watered, to give you a fighting chance of establishing some successfully and then keep your fingers crossed that the watercress will thrive. If you need to you can raise more plants to renew the colony in future seasons.

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