Too early to divide lotus in zone 7A?

[milhousebarks]

Hi,

I have a lotus sitting at the bottom of the pond and was thinking of dragging the lotus up from the bottom of the pond and separate out the tubers to replant. Is it too early for doing that in zone 7A? And when would it be too late?

Thanks for any input.

 

[sissy]

I know most places tell you on the internet Feb . and March is the latest .I know they ship the tubers in March .

 

[addy1]

You want to divide them before they start growing.

 

[adavisus]

When lotus grow, their new runners are fast growing and very delicate, intertangling and tricky to disentangle. Spreading up to 6' per month...

You need to make sure any lotus divisions are not caught by freezing conditions. The 'window' for dividing lotus can be quite small, between hard freezing Winter cold and Summery fast growing conditions...

Regards, andy
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[milhousebarks]

Thanks all.

I divided it a few days ago. That sure was a lot of roots! I can't imagine what it would be like if you didn't do it every year.

 

[Linus_Cello]

What's your lotus? I (re)potted a fragment of a white small lotus (I think tulip lotus) that grew outside of the pot on the 14th. Haven't seen it sprout yet. That reminds me I need to put my lotus "chastity" in a bigger pot.
(I thought we were in zone 6b).

 

[addy1]

Linus Cello, looks like you are zone 7a, via http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#

My lotus froze solid, not sure if they will make it this winter, the small ponds the water froze to the bottom.

 

[Linus_Cello]

Linus Cello, looks like you are zone 7a, via http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#

My lotus froze solid, not sure if they will make it this winter, the small ponds the water froze to the bottom.

Were the lotus near the surface or did you move them to the bottom of the pond? If the latter, they'll hopefully come back.

 

[sissy]

The guy I got my lotus tubers from neglects them horribly .They are in a foot of water if it rains that is .They are crowded and stay there all year round .They are sitting in a 2 foot wide by 6 foot long wood thing with a liner of plastic sheeting that is barely there .He told me they have been there since he moved in 12 years ago in Eden NC .I traded him fish for tubers .I am sure the roots have frozen and they still survive .He did not even know what they were .

 

[milhousebarks]

What's your lotus?

I grew Momo Botan last year and it did great. This year I've added Sino-American Red (Meizhonghong), Pink bowl and Sparks from Ten mile Creek Nursery.

They are the main source for new Lotus (well new in the US) from the Auburn research project and I was particularly interested in trying some of these since they are smaller lotus they offer. The tubers they sent were very nice with plenty of good growing points.

 

[addy1]

Were the lotus near the surface or did you move them to the bottom of the pond? If the latter, they'll hopefully come back.

sorry just saw this, The lotus are in big containers, in a 300 gallon pond. The tuber is around 18 inches under the water, big pots so they are never moved. this is the first year the water has frozen so deep.