Wanted Lotus tuber

[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!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I ended up placing an order for a dwarf lotus (momo botan) from someone on Ebay last night.

We shall see how it goes

 

[cas]

Good luck!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Good luck!

Thank you

 

[Lisak1]

They are beautiful! Read about them first though so you're prepared to handle them. They are quite a bit pickier than a waterlily.

 

[addy1]

Do you let them die back in the tub?

The only thing I do is remove some of the dead leaves early spring or late fall. They die back in the tub, leaves, stems flower pods rot any thing that does not rot gets removed. Also the anacharis and a bit of hornwort are in the tub. And a few fish that got in via eggs down the garden hose. Oh and a ton of tads. I used to fertilize, but quit years ago.

I put in tubers on the kitty litter, laid a rock on them and they took off.

 

[mrsclem]

Once you get one growing, do not cut the stems below water level. They are hollow and the tuber will die.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Once you get one growing, do not cut the stems below water level. They are hollow and the tuber will die.

Thank you

 

[addy1]

Once you get one growing, do not cut the stems below water level. They are hollow and the tuber will die.

I cut nothing until the stems/leaves are collapsed and mushy.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Here is what my lotus plant looks like today. I just laid the tuber on top of some soil with small gravel mixed in, then placed a small flat stone on the middle of it to hold it in place.

Should I put a fertilizer tablet in the pot or wait for more leaves? (the half brown circle you see in the pot is a mosquito dunk)

 

[mrsclem]

Don't fertilize until you get leaves that are above water level.