Wanted Lotus tuber

[bettasngoldfish]

Anyone have lotus tubers to share or sell? Of course I would pay shipping as well.

I would prefer a hardy dwarf or semi dwarf lotus but am willing to try any type.

I purchased a nice size tuber online last year and accidentally stepped on it while in the process of planting. I think I damaged it and that's why it never grew.

I'd like to give it another shot this year without having to spend so much money.

 

[addy1]

Lotus tubers are best bought before they start growing. They tend to be fragile.

I have a lot of tubers, but they free grow in the lotus tub, I never dig in there to try and remove them.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Lotus tubers are best bought before they start growing. They tend to be fragile.

I have a lot of tubers, but they free grow in the lotus tub, I never dig in there to try and remove them.

Yes, I have read they are fragile. I will most likely buy from William Tricker again. I am just hesitant to spend another $40 or so after what happened last year. Although as I mentioned it was probably due to me stepping on it that it didn't grow

 

[Lisak1]

Lotuses are tricky. My daughter loves to mess with them so I leave them up to her. She found a woman nearby (on Craigslist maybe?) who was selling tubers for $5. She went to her house and the woman had them growing in dozens of trash cans all over her back yard. She was a bit of a lotus hoarder I guess you could say. She also gave her a tutorial (a tub-orial? ) on how to handle them and plant them and care for them. They're too picky for my taste!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I am still debating on what to do....Would be great if I could find someone local. Even if it might be a lotus hoarder

 

[Lisak1]

Check Craigslist - you might be surprised!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Check Craigslist - you might be surprised!

I will do that, thanks!

 

[Lisak1]

No sooner did I post my "I don't mess with lotuses" comment than I look outside and see something odd floating in the pond... looks like a wreath... or a circle of something... HEY THAT'S THE LOTUS THAT WAS IN THE POT IN THE POND! My very naughty, very spawn-y fish had pulled the whole thing out of the pot. So I had to FaceTime my daughter at work (YES I KNOW YOU'RE AT WORK BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT!) so she could walk me through the rescue. The good news is there are lots of growing tips, so she can split it up and replace some that we lost in the great Polar Vortex.

 

[mrsclem]

You may have to wait till nest year to buy one from Trickers or anyone else. They don't usually ship once they start actively growing. I wanted to divide mine but it sprouted before I could get to it. Its taken over my 75 gal preform.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

They ship according to this map. I'm in zone 5, so end of May thru June is the earliest they ship here. It's been unusually cool here for this time of year. Tomorrow they say we may hit 80. So we go from having the furnace on to having the air conditioning on.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

You may have to wait till nest year to buy one from Trickers or anyone else. They don't usually ship once they start actively growing. I wanted to divide mine but it sprouted before I could get to it. Its taken over my 75 gal preform.

Wow, So yours is pretty big. How long do you suppose you've had it?

 

[mrsclem]

About 6 years.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Nice!

 

[mrsclem]

Got 12 blooms last year but I will admit it got quite a few fertilizer tablets.

 

[addy1]

This is my 300 gallon lotus tub, they grow free in there.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Beautiful

 

[Lisak1]

Now you're just showing off @addy1 !

Got 12 blooms last year but I will admit it got quite a few fertilizer tablets.

We fertilize our lotuses like crazy. The goal is blooms, right? Feed them and you'll get lots!

 

[addy1]

Now you're just showing off @addy1 !



We fertilize our lotuses like crazy. The goal is blooms, right? Feed them and you'll get lots!

I don't fertilize mine. They are in a pond that gets slow flow unfiltered water from the big pond. Planted in stinky kitty litter, plant matter that gets in there just rots adds to the food for the lotus.

 

[Lisak1]

You have such a huge tub for them I can see how that would work. Do you let them die back in the tub? That would add lots of good organics to the mix - and the pond water flowing through is a plus. Ours are planted in smallish (by comparison anyway) lotus bowls and only a couple of them go in the actual pond in their bowls, so they quickly use up any food they get. Lots of food gives you lots of blooms we have learned. Oh, but we also learned that you don't start feeding them heavily until you get the first aerial leaves.

Our first year someone told my daughter to plant them in a mixture of horse manure and aquatic soil - just enough to cover the tuber - and then top with water. Well, you wanna talk about stinky?? Oh my gosh - that was a disgusting mess. Don't do that! Getting rid of that was like cleaning up horse diarrhea... we were laughing so hard we were crying. Luckily the house next door was still vacant - we dumped the whole mess in the yard! I should go tell them "see that nice patch of green right there? You can thank us and our horse mess for that!" Oh and the lotus never grew, so doubly disappointing! (See above for the reason why that probably happened - too fertile too fast!)

 

[Gemma]

This thread makes me want to try growing Lotus!