How to Plant Water Lotus
We recommend that you float your lotus tuber in aged pond water for 18 days in a warm sunny place before planting. This allows the tuber to sprout and will increase your success in growing lotus. When your lotus is sprouted fill up your 5 to 10 gallon pot with 6” of mud. Then place the lotus tuber with the growing tips straight upwards. Gently press the tuber into the mud don't damage the growin tips. Place in the pond.
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Water Lotus Information
The hardy water lotus is the most admired of all pond plants, with its elegant graceful flowers, rich colors, and huge leaves. It’s no wonder they are a customer favorite.
The lotus is a perennial pond plant growing from a thick rhizome tuber. Its rounded leaves can reach up to 50 cm in diameter. The first leaves that appear, few in number, are flat and float on the surface. They are followed by thicker, tunnel-shaped leaves with slightly wavy edges that may stand from 50 cm to 2 meters above the water. The leaves are coated with a waxy film, upon which water forms magnificent, glittering droplets.
The flower stalk rises above the leaves, ending in large, sweet-smelling, white or pink blooms, appearing one at a time. Each flower lasts from 2 to 5 days and darkens with age. Ranging in diameter from 15 to 25 cm, lotus flowers are termed single when they have fewer than 25 petals, semi-double if they have 25 to 50 petals, and double if they have more. After blooming, the petals fall, leaving a cone-shaped seed head that resembles the rose of a watering can. Each of its 15 to 20 openings contains a fruit.
Hardy water lotuses are generally grown from rhizomes or tubers planted in late May or early June. If a lotus is to be grown in a pond or water garden, it should be planted in shallow water (15 to 50 cm below the surface), directly in the bottom or in a container 30 cm tall and 50 cm across. The water temperature must be at least 68° during the growing season. The soil must be quite rich, i.e. one part loam, one part leaf mold, compost or well-aged manure and one part clay soil. Slow-dissolving fertilizer, such as bone meal, may also be added.
A lotus may also be grown in a pot, which should be 60 cm in both height and diameter. The advantage of this method is that the water will warm up faster and the plant flower earlier. Place a 25 to 30 cm thick layer of the appropriate soil mixture in the bottom of the pot. Plant the rhizome horizontally, on a slight angle, and cover all but the last 2.5 cm of the growing tip with soil.
The water lotus prefers a very sunny location. Cooler temperatures may cause the plant to go into dormancy, and it may be difficult to coax it to re-bloom. For better growth and flowering, slow-release fertilizer tablets may be used once a month and the first flowers should be removed as soon as they fade.
The water lotus is normally propagated by rhizome division, with two or three eyes being kept on each section. It can also be propagated from seed. Lotus seeds have a highly effective dormancy mechanism and require a number of specific steps to encourage them to germinate. The surface of the seeds must first be scarified to break the outer coating. Then they should be placed in a container, a drinking glass for instance, filled with a few centimeters of pond water, which must be changed daily. Each plant should be pricked out once two leaves emerge, along with rootlets. Plants started from seed in March may flower the first year, in August and September, while rhizomes planted in containers will flower in July.
In our climate, it is best to lift the rhizomes in the fall. They should be stored in their original soil, covered with 5 to 20 cm of water and kept cool (5° to 10°C), safe from any risk of freezing. Plants should be divided every three or four years.
The lotus is a perennial pond plant growing from a thick rhizome tuber. Its rounded leaves can reach up to 50 cm in diameter. The first leaves that appear, few in number, are flat and float on the surface. They are followed by thicker, tunnel-shaped leaves with slightly wavy edges that may stand from 50 cm to 2 meters above the water. The leaves are coated with a waxy film, upon which water forms magnificent, glittering droplets.
The flower stalk rises above the leaves, ending in large, sweet-smelling, white or pink blooms, appearing one at a time. Each flower lasts from 2 to 5 days and darkens with age. Ranging in diameter from 15 to 25 cm, lotus flowers are termed single when they have fewer than 25 petals, semi-double if they have 25 to 50 petals, and double if they have more. After blooming, the petals fall, leaving a cone-shaped seed head that resembles the rose of a watering can. Each of its 15 to 20 openings contains a fruit.
Hardy water lotuses are generally grown from rhizomes or tubers planted in late May or early June. If a lotus is to be grown in a pond or water garden, it should be planted in shallow water (15 to 50 cm below the surface), directly in the bottom or in a container 30 cm tall and 50 cm across. The water temperature must be at least 68° during the growing season. The soil must be quite rich, i.e. one part loam, one part leaf mold, compost or well-aged manure and one part clay soil. Slow-dissolving fertilizer, such as bone meal, may also be added.
A lotus may also be grown in a pot, which should be 60 cm in both height and diameter. The advantage of this method is that the water will warm up faster and the plant flower earlier. Place a 25 to 30 cm thick layer of the appropriate soil mixture in the bottom of the pot. Plant the rhizome horizontally, on a slight angle, and cover all but the last 2.5 cm of the growing tip with soil.
The water lotus prefers a very sunny location. Cooler temperatures may cause the plant to go into dormancy, and it may be difficult to coax it to re-bloom. For better growth and flowering, slow-release fertilizer tablets may be used once a month and the first flowers should be removed as soon as they fade.
The water lotus is normally propagated by rhizome division, with two or three eyes being kept on each section. It can also be propagated from seed. Lotus seeds have a highly effective dormancy mechanism and require a number of specific steps to encourage them to germinate. The surface of the seeds must first be scarified to break the outer coating. Then they should be placed in a container, a drinking glass for instance, filled with a few centimeters of pond water, which must be changed daily. Each plant should be pricked out once two leaves emerge, along with rootlets. Plants started from seed in March may flower the first year, in August and September, while rhizomes planted in containers will flower in July.
In our climate, it is best to lift the rhizomes in the fall. They should be stored in their original soil, covered with 5 to 20 cm of water and kept cool (5° to 10°C), safe from any risk of freezing. Plants should be divided every three or four years.
