Help with lotus plants.

Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
73
Reaction score
30
Location
maryland
Hardiness Zone
7-A
My lotus plants have a lot of coin leaves but no aerial leaves as yet. My understanding is after 2-3 aerial leaves you can then start fertilizing. My question is will these plants bloom this year as they appear to be small compared to the other ones I have seen ? Maybe after ferts they will hopefully take off. This is my first year with them and I am trying to get the beautiful blooms I have seen with others. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 

mrsclem

mrsclem
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
5,351
Reaction score
4,810
Location
st. mary's county, md.
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
Are these plants from seeds this year? I am just starting to get aerial leaves on my seedlings and have been fertilizing. Hoping to get some blooms but the plants are still small. I divided my older plants this spring and am now seeing buds.
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Messages
242
Reaction score
190
Location
SE Michigan
Country
United States
Ours has two aerial leaves and yesterday I noticed a small bud! I started it from a rhizome last year, did not expect it to flower, and it pushed out four blooms last year.
Our other one was bought from a nursery, seemed older and well established, lots of aerials last year, ZERO blooms. This year it already has a ton of aerial leaves, no bloom yet (but it is early in the season). If it doesn't flower this year, I'm moving on. I mean there is only so much real estate available in the pond and I can't have a non-blooming lotus just chillin' there LOL.
 

mrsclem

mrsclem
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
5,351
Reaction score
4,810
Location
st. mary's county, md.
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
Lotus don't have to be in a pond- mine are all in 20 gallon containers with the exception of my 75 gallon preform.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
73
Reaction score
30
Location
maryland
Hardiness Zone
7-A
Are these plants from seeds this year? I am just starting to get aerial leaves on my seedlings and have been fertilizing. Hoping to get some blooms but the plants are still small. I divided my older plants this spring and am now seeing buds.
No these plants were bought at the end of the season last year. I divided them and started them this April.
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
73
Reaction score
30
Location
maryland
Hardiness Zone
7-A
Finally got blooms and lots of them ( Empress Lotus ). What should I do with the stem after they bloom. Cut it off above the water line ??
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Messages
242
Reaction score
190
Location
SE Michigan
Country
United States
Ours today
IMG-20210707-WA0012~2.jpg


IMG-20210707-WA0009~2.jpg
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Messages
242
Reaction score
190
Location
SE Michigan
Country
United States
Do not cut them off!! The center is where you will get your seeds from.
Are the seeds really useful? I thought of saving them last year but I think birds are them. If I was to try and grow more lotus wouldn't it be quicker to just use the roots that are already escaping the pot and starting to spread over the liner?
 

mrsclem

mrsclem
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
5,351
Reaction score
4,810
Location
st. mary's county, md.
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
You can divide the tubers in the spring or start seeds. This year I did both. You don't want to cut any stems until the plant has completely died back in the fall. People actually pay money for the dried seed heads! They can get quite large, 4-6".
 
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
73
Reaction score
30
Location
maryland
Hardiness Zone
7-A
Wow in two weeks you went from no aerial leaves to lots of blooms!? Post some pics please.
I did have a few aerial leaves , but then three blooms started on one plant and 2 on the other after applying fertilizer. Pretty
 

Attachments

  • DSCN0200.JPG
    DSCN0200.JPG
    170.6 KB · Views: 130
  • DSCN0201.JPG
    DSCN0201.JPG
    153.8 KB · Views: 78

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,782
Messages
508,588
Members
13,042
Latest member
lucaryan

Latest Threads

Top