Lotus

[Freddie Peepers]

When I was in Beijing China, I saw millions of Lotus all over the city. It is 18 Degrees F there right now, I don't think they do anything to thiers. I imagine thier ponds are frozen as well.

Well if mine survived being frozen...then as soon as it warms up I will offer up all the tubers i got for postage to any one that wants to try and grow one.

I heard that they are hardy but can not survive being froze solid, unfortunately that is exactly what has happened here.
I had dug up one of my barrels in the late fall ...planning to remove the tubers and put them in a container and sink the container to the bottom of our pond for the winter. I got almost 2 dozen nice fat tubers and had them in water waiting till I had a chance to weight them down (they float), and sink them to the bottom till spring when we got several days of frigid weather and I wasn't home to care for them, needless to say i screwed up.
If i could have moved the whole barrel somewhere above freezing for the winter ,I wouldn't have even dug them up until the spring

 

[j.w]

I would like to try one Freddie if they survived. Can I just plant one in my pond in a pot w/ the lily soil recipe and then when it gets cold in the winter sink it down to the bottom and hope for the best?

 

[oldmarine]

I don't know from experience, From everything I have read if a lotus is planted in a pond, the rhysome / root tuber needs to be at a depth that won't allow it to freeze. Two to three feet is recommended. The local pond guy near me named Jack at Oaktree ponds told me that the lotus basket can be removed from the pond and stored in a shed or garage where it won't freeze. I guess we will all learn something together on this one real soon.

Happy ponding,

Rich :helm2:

 

[j.w]

My pond is over 3' deep so they should be fine............I hope. :helm2:

 

[oldmarine]

Pond water normally doesn't freeze that deep. You're in Arlington, WA so you shouldn't have any problems if you leave your lotus or lilies in your pond over the winter.

Happy ponding,

Rich

 

[j.w]

Yes I have the hardy water lilies in my pond and they do just fine each winter on the plant shelf that is about two feet deep. I just thought the lotus were not as hardy as the hardy type water lilies. Maybe if I get lotus it will need to go down to the very bottom at the 3'+ depth.

 

[Freddie Peepers]

depth is not as important. Lotus can survive cold, just not being frozen so if your plant shelf is at 2 feet and it does not freeze then they would be perfectly fine at that level.
They do require a large container though, this spring I plan on putting one on my plant shelf In about 18 inches of water cause i only get maybe 2-4 inches of ice on our pond and since we leave the waterfall running all winter the ice melts off rather quickly due to the movement, so off and on all winter long we may or may not have ice covering the pond.

I was just reading on the Koiphen forum in the water garden section and someone there posted that their lotus actually did better with less water over them.

I only have had one year of growing them and even though I got a couple to bloom, in no way am I claiming to be an expert.

 

[DrCase]

Sorry Freddie your the only Lotus Blooming expert we got
mine does fine in the pond , I wonder how the small half barrel
will do during the winter ?

 

[j.w]

Yep Freddie we're coming to you for advice on Lotus now so buck up me bucco and learn us well ya hear :yikesu: Do you re-pot those big Lotus containers each year w/ the recipe from you know who or do you just pop in fertilizer tabs throughout the summer? :lol:

 

[oldmarine]

This afternoon Transplanted eight, one month old lotus shoots into eight 55 gallon half barrels next to my driveway. For the most part, I did it Freddies way, but encountered some minor problems. Like, after putting the compost into the drums, I had trouble pouring water into the barrels without stirring everything up. Then when I went plant the 3" peat pots with the lotus sprouts into the compost, it was slurry of mud. I'm sure I wasn't holding my tongue just right or something. At that point I didn't want to attempt putting the pee gravel in because the pee gravel at that point was heavier than the mud in the bottum of the barrel, and I'm sure it would sink to the bottum. When I placed the 3" peat pots of sprouts into the mud, all I had to do was push them down into the mud to a desired depth.

Regardless of the fact that I may have killed the lotus sprouts, I think next year I will go ahead put the lotus in a container that will just fit into the bottum of the barrel. That way I could repot the lotus without having to deal with a problem with mud. Then the lotus plant can be easily lifted out of the half barrel in the future.

Still a great idea Freddie, Maybe I did something wrong, but not sure what it was.

Happy ponding,

Rich :yikesu:

 

[Freddie Peepers]

Rich... It sounds to me like maybe the compost was oversaturated with water to start.
I put the osmocote in the bottom of the barrel and then dumped in at least one bag of composted cow manure maybe 2 bags. Then I placed the lotus tuber on the top of the compost and weighted it down with the gravel so only a couple of the growing points were exposed above the gravel. Then I started to fill in with water,gently pouring it onto the gravel and letting it soak in to the compost until it started to rise above the gravel.
there was some clouding up of the water but that cleared up in no time.
I hope I didn't kill the one cause there will be plenty of tubers to share and once the weather warmed up last year the lotus grew at an alarming rate so even if they don't get planted until May or June we should still see some blooms.
They need a large container and a large amount of food to produce blooms and I will be starting over next spring with fresh compost and osmocote too. I'll try to save the peagravel by washing it off and then reusing it
Weather man is calling for the potential of 6 inches of snow or more on Sunday night heading into Monday morning

 

[oldmarine]

Freddie,

Thank you for helping. I still might be able to add the pee gravel when the compost settles down some. I'm still leaning toward the idea a container inside a container, I.E., a potting container for the lotus that would just fit inside the 55 gallon barrel cut in half. I have a year to find something for next time around. Maybe a container that when I cut it down to the right height I can cut handles on each side for easy lifting in and out.

I can't tell you how I appreciate your help with this.

Happy ponding,

Rich :yikesu:

 

[j.w]

Yep thanks again Freddie............I guess it's a yearly process w/ the redoing of the lilies and the lotus. :yikesu:

 

[oldmarine]

My pond is now all ready for spring. All of the potted plants are re-potted, and the boi-filter is set up and running. I haven't yet removed the submersible heater, and the water fall is still turned off. At this point it appears as though we aren't going to get any more snow in the Northwest, but we've had temps down into the low 30*F's.

Happy ponding,

Rich:coolgleema:

 

[j.w]

Well you've been making good use out of this nice weather we've been having haven't you Rich? I had to mow the lawn today...........it was getting so long...........it was like summer again here today :yikesu: