Lotus Help!

[Ermasdaughter]

I may have gotten a bit cocky.... After 10 years of not having a water garden I decided to try my hand at it again. I've been loving it and my two little patio ponds are thriving. I could have stopped there and didn't LOL! I decided to try my hand with a lotus (or two)- having never grown one before. The care of these plants has been such that my husband now says we have two more children!

I started one from seed (seemingly doing fine) and the other from a tuber. Both plants are in pot with heaters to keep them warm. I use Osmocote fertilizer tabs.

At first the tuber looked great. But about a week ago I noticed that the 2 leaves that floated above the water surface looked quite pale. I thought perhaps it was a nitrogen issue? Then yesterday I look at the tuber and it's no longer a lovely fleshy white tuber but rather a light brown tuber with deep veins running the length of the tuber. I'm assuming it's rotting and I don't know why....

Here's are my questions:

1) Should I lift the tuber and try to see if there are any "healthy" parts to save?
2) Is it too late in the season for "plant surgery" - will I just be speeding up the process of killing the plant?
3) Can the plant be save?

Thanks for any advise...

Michelle

 

[addy1]

With a lotus, the best thing to do is leave it alone. Mine got yellow leaves, I added some iron, they greened up almost over night. Mine are in cat litter with 1/4 cup of osmocote added to below the kitty litter. Separate pond from the fish pond.

I do not know about the color once they start to grow, not touching them.

I would put the tuber back and see what it does. They do not like being messed with once they start growing.

How cold is it there?

Disclaimer this is my first year growing lotus, but I have read a lot about them and sharing what is happening to mine.

This was about 3 days ago, the yellow tinged ones have doubled in size and are greening up. There are 5 lotus plants in the stock tank, each in its own pot.

One person suggested adding a bit of steel wool to the pot for the iron. I am going to do that also, they are food hogs.

 

[Ermasdaughter]

Thanks so much for the advice. My instinct was, as you suggested, to leave it along. I just had my house remodeled and I just happen to have some wire wool around. Do you take a piece and just place it on the soil weighted down by a rock, near the roots?

Thanks so much Addy1....

 

[fishin4cars]

Only add the wool if there are no fish, That is not good for fish at all. As for the tubers, they do darken as they age, the crisp white is new growth. Be sure and feed well, and if the temps are as high there as here, reached 100 yesterday. You may want to provide some afternoon shade. I feed mine every three weeks with three fert tablets, thinking about going to two every two weeks, They suck in nutrients at unbelievable rates. Oh and as Addy said, try not to disturb the root system at all. They don't do well when moved.

 

[Ermasdaughter]

Thanks so much Fishin... there are no fish in the pot. Just a single lotus plant. I've since read up a bit on this technique and learned that just a "pinch" is needed. I'm doing that today. Then, I'll wait and see....

Re the temps, they've been a bit strange this year. Normally it's in the 80's everyday but the last few years the temps have been rising later in the season and lasting well into November! Currently the day temps are only reaching 70 - 77 but the sun is quite intense so the plants spend the days basking in the sun and I bring the pots in at night with a heater.

 

[fishin4cars]

As long as the temps are staying above 50-60 at night lotus will do fine, Mine seem to prefer and grow best when the night temps are around 60 and the day temps below 85, That's a short time frame here! lol But I could see as many as 8-15 blooms a day during those days, Now that the heat has set in, leaves are starting to brown on the edges, and flowering has slowed to 2-3 flowers a week. I leave mine outside year round, they do die back in the winter but have come back every year even after freezing temps. Also in the wild they need a dormant period, not sure about hybrid ones that you buy from the plant nurseries but I assume the same for them as mine does. The big one I have in the bog is 8 years old I think, only been divided once and does great.

 

[Ermasdaughter]

Thanks so much for all your advice! Unfortunately, like all "newbies" I need a lot of help that I didn't know I needed LOL!

Well, I used a piece of cheese cloth and made a "tea bag" for the iron wool. I buried it near the roots and left a little string so that I can retrieve when I need to. Will keep you posted on the results...

I've uploaded some pictures of the ailing lotus I am asking about. If any of you have a moment to spare, your observations would be most appreciated....

Here is the link:

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/members/ermasdaughter-albums.html

Thanks again for your advice!
Michelle

 

[addy1]

Very nice! Yours looks like mine did, now greening up. Soon you will have leaves breaking the surface, they are huge! Love the four leaf clover I have that also. Of the five I have in the stock tank, 3 are doing good two are struggling, but resisting pulling them out or messing with them in any way except for food.

FISHIN! I have a bud coming up on my big lotus..................yippppppeeeeeeeeee

 

[fishin4cars]

Is that one you got from pondboy/ If not how is that one doing, Mine didn't make it.:regular_waving_emot

 

[addy1]

No out of the 6, 2 made it. These are ones I got from a friend on a different forum. These are the giant ones, 5 feet plus.

The little ones are just putting leafs to the surface of the water, but at least still growing. the little ones are in the stream ponds.

The big guys are in a fishless stock tank.

 

[Ermasdaughter]

abby1: Congrats on that blooming blossom! I'm soooo jealous LOL!!

 

[addy1]

It has been a learning curve on lotus, Mine have, in the past two weeks started really taking off. We warmed up. They put up the floating leafs, once they started with the above water leafs, watch out! And those leafs are huge!

 

[lotusfreak]

those look nice to me!!!!!

 

[Ermasdaughter]

Lotusfreak: Well, maybe it's because I'm a newbie although my "tuber" lotus is definitely looking the worse for wear... I'll post a pick. I'd be shocked it that girlie aint on her way out.... The plant I started from seed seems to be fine.

Thanks though... I'll post pix of the ailing plant again and would love to know what you think...

 

[addy1]

I found the one planted in the pond floating.............but it had leaves above water, roots coming out of the tuber and out of parts of the stem. I pushed the tuber gently back into the clay, put a rock on it and will see how it does.