Lotus

[j.w]

J.W.,

I have to admit, it is easier than I thought it would be. Just takes some patients. From what I have read about lotus seeds, they can survive for a long time even centuries because of the hard containment of skin on the seed itself.

Happy ponding,

Rich :wave:

Where does one start looking for seeds? I imagine seeds are much cheaper than the full grown plant.

 

[oldmarine]

You can google 'lotus seeds for sale', and you will come up with quite a few retailers to chosse from. I haven't been able to find any sources localy here in the Tacoma area, but I found some dried lotus seed pods at a local craft store and decided to give it a try. I have those potted as starts as I type this. The only problem with the craft store lotus seeds is that I have no idea what kind of lotus they are. Most of that craft store junk is from China. Bone up on your Chinese, we are paying them millions to make inferior products for us.

Good luck with your search, and happy ponding.

Rich

 

[j.w]

Ok I'll have to check out online and see what I can come up with. It will be interesting to see what your lotus looks like when it blooms. Be sure to post pictures.
I agree w/ you on products from China............all crap. We need to get right here in the U.S and make decent products for our people.
Do you enjoy discussing political and religious and various other topics Rich. If so.....do you remember Bullfrog from AP? Well he started a little forum called http://bullfrogs-pad.forumotion.com/forum.htm and we talk about all kinds of stuff in there. You are welcome to visit if you like.

 

[oldmarine]

JW,

As you well know took you up on your invite to Bullfrog, and I found it to be another good source of ponding information. Thanks.

So far, All of my lotus seeds have sprouted, five are late bloomers. They just started to sprout, and the rest have been in a twenty gallon aquarium for about a week. The thirteen that are in the aquarium have sent up shoots about eight or nine inches long. I think I'm at a point where I need to think about putting them in the recomended sized pots and placed in the 55 gallon drum halves out side next to the driveway. I'm leaning toward the idea of potting them in composted manure, and that other stuff you mentioned that worked so well.

Happy ponding,

Rich :banana:

 

[j.w]

It will be fun to see how they all turn out. You're not putting them out now are you. I see it is freezing out there now so winter is not done yet. Freddie and I got our instructions on AP so I can send it to ya or you can look it up on AP under planting lilies or something like that. It's called ? Recipe. If you can't find it or would rather have me just send it to you in a pm I can do that. Happy planting :afro:

 

[Freddie Peepers]

I would plant directly into the barrel. No other container needed, in fact a small container might even stunt the growth of the lotus. We grew ours from a tuber and I screwed up and didn't take care of the tubers properly at the end of the season and ended up freezing them in a block of ice. But my point is that after I dug up the barrel there were dozens of tubers wrapped around and around at the bottom of the barrel so they definitely need room to grow.
I have read that if you don't use a round container the tuber will "run" itself into a corner and if it can't turn it will stop growing and not bloom.
Good luck with your seeds and I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress. I absolutely will be getting more tubers this spring and now know what to do to keep them alive over the winter.

 

[koiguy1969]

why not just post it? share it with all!!

 

[DrCase]

I have had mine 2 years i started with a cutting in a nice size pot it sits 2 ft deep in the pond
I did read you need to let the leaves die back before cutting them off for the winter ,when you are going to leave them in the water..
My first year i cut the leaves as they faded back keeping the pond neat ..and the growth was not as good... I let them die this year i will see what happens

 

[DrDave]

Keep a log on what works for you. I want to try and grow some as well. Just need the seeds.

 

[DrCase]

Will do ..I hope this is the year

 

[oldmarine]

I would plant directly into the barrel. No other container needed, in fact a small container might even stunt the growth of the lotus. We grew ours from a tuber and I screwed up and didn't take care of the tubers properly at the end of the season and ended up freezing them in a block of ice. But my point is that after I dug up the barrel there were dozens of tubers wrapped around and around at the bottom of the barrel so they definitely need room to grow.
I have read that if you don't use a round container the tuber will "run" itself into a corner and if it can't turn it will stop growing and not bloom.
Good luck with your seeds and I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress. I absolutely will be getting more tubers this spring and now know what to do to keep them alive over the winter.

Freddie,

Should plant my lotus just in thr bottum of my barrel halves or would have any better success using the recommended lotus baskets?

Happy ponding,

Rich

 

[Freddie Peepers]

hey Rich:
I would plant your lotus directly into the barrels and NOT in another container then into the barrel.
I put the osmocote in the bottom of the barrel, then started filling the barrel up with the compost a little over half full,using pond water saturate the compost thoroughly and plant directly into that. Cover with some pea gravel (about 1-2 inches) and then top off with pond water till gravel is covered with a couple inches of water.
My understanding is that the Lotus does not require any certain depth of water covering it and it will grow in anything from saturated soil up to a foot or more of water.
Mine had about 3 inches of water covering the gravel and the ones I planted in full sun bloomed the first year, while the ones that only got half day of sun only produced leaves.
I also put one of those mosquito "dunks" in there and it worked like a charm to keep the larvae out. I found them at the local hardware store, but then found them on-line for about a dollar each. You only need to use about 1/4 of a dunk per barrel per month so they are not too expensive to use.

I have read that you have an abundance of mosquito fish so if you have extra and leave enough water in your barrels you probably could use them as mosquito control.
Without a doubt the lotus blooming was the highlight of our gardening year here and every one that visited marveled at them. I have ordered a couple more tubers to grow this year and learned a lot about them, so I hopefully will have extra tubers to share after next season
Good Luck with yours

* I retread both of our posts and want make clear that you should be planting them at the top of the compost and not down at the bottom of the barrel. They will grow around and around in the barrel and will produce tubers which then will be all the way at the bottom by the end of the season and then they need to be kept from freezing solid (the mistake I made) over winter. The following spring they need to be dug up and replanted

 

[j.w]

Freddie when you say you need to keep them (Lotus) from freezing each winter........how do you do that? Do you store them in a garage in water or dirt or how? I don't have any but I still want to learn in case I decide to get some for the barrels. Thanks jw

 

[DrDave]

When I was in Beijing China, I saw millions of Lotus all over the city. It is 18 Degrees F there right now, I don't think they do anything to thiers. I imagine thier ponds are frozen as well.

 

[DrCase]

I wish i new what temp that was....?
I am going to plant a few half barrels this year , with all the global warming !!! stuff
this has been the worst winter in the 28 years i have been down here .
I don't want to drag them back inside to winter