There were a few issues to consider

There were a few issues to consider for the plant replacement. First of all, all plant material should be the indigenous wetland plant species. Second, the vegetation for the replacement should be nursery grown plants, which is healthy and free of disease and pests. Third, plant material should be planted as soon as possible after delivery. Replacement of the plant species on the floating mats were carried out on December 12, 2011. The plants including Canna and Juncus, along with the grass from Beeman’s Nursery, were replaced on three integrated floating mats. The comparison between the new vegetation replacement from Beeman’s Nursery and the old vegetation pulled out of wetland mats (Figure 40) demonstrated the ignificant biomass growth of the three species of wetland plants (Canna, Juncus, and Agrostis Grass) used in Pond 4M during the 8-month experimental period, especially in their root systems. Overall, the observation implied that the buoyant interlocking foam mats with the perforated plastic cup design and sorption media, promoted high physiological activity of wetland plants and supported a highly efficient plant replacement effort (Figure 41).