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Fri, May 28, 10 at 10:59
| anyone else growing lotus in outside of your pond? i've got nine of them growing in plastic 55 gallon drums that i cut in half and then buried. i refer to the area they're in as the killing field. i keep finding dead mice, toads, frogs and snakes in them. it's at least every other day, something has some sort of floater. does anyone else have this problem? as far as i'm concerned all the mice can jump in, but i'd rather not lose the others.
ps i couldn't find tomato fertilizer spikes, so i used tree spikes and broke them in five pieces and buried them about an inch down, one spike per tub. is that ok? i did something similiar for my water lilies, but only used 1/3 spike per 1 gallon container. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by nancym1956 (My Page) on Fri, May 28, 10 at 11:29
| I kept my lotus in a tub outside the pond for two years before moving it to the edge of the pond this year. Had enough liner to dig down a bit and make a recess large enough for the tub. I kept forgetting to put water in it and it would dry out, so this was my solution -- it now gets pond water to keep it wet. Anyway, no, I've never found any dead critters in the tub. I've never used tree spikes, but I don't see why they wouldn't work, as long as you're careful not to over fertilize, which you have done by breaking them into pieces. |
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Fri, May 28, 10 at 15:33
| Hmmm....if you're finding dead snakes, toads and frogs in them, I'm wondering about the water. Was there something toxic in the drums before? Mice I can understand drowning, but not snakes, etc. I've never used tree spikes, but I have the feeling they aren't the right combo of N-K-P. Maybe that's what's killing the animals?? You'd think they'd get out of the tubs, though, if the water was bad. Very curious. Do you have some predator that would kill them? Are their bodies intact? |
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- Posted by cody_mi z5 MI (codyvtaylor@live.com) on Sat, May 29, 10 at 5:19
| i just put the fertilizer in today, so thats not the problem. with a little effort they could get out. there are several frogs that live in the tubs and sit on the lotus leaves during the day. lots of bugs in them too. |
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- Posted by timbersmith 6A (My Page) on Sat, May 29, 10 at 13:23
| I've got a lotus in an external tub right next to the pond (can't tell when the plants really start growing). I've plumbed in a line from the filter, so the lotus gets a constant supply of gravity-fed pond water, as long as the tubing doesn't get clogged from whatever. So far all I've found dead in there are grub-like worms, nothing else really. I'm thinking of calling it "the Nursery" cause no fish can get in there unless they're sucked up by the pump as fry. Right now, it's got a couple tadpoles in there that I caught at a local park - figured it'd be a good place for 'em since they won't wind up being fish food in there. |
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- Posted by sunburntcanuck zone 9a (My Page) on Sun, May 30, 10 at 10:57
| I've planted 2 "bowl" lotus in 20 gal containers and put beside my fountain by the back porch. I'm in Phoenix area. It gets very hot and the sun is extremely bright, so because of that I put them where they are shaded until noon and will receive sunlight until 7:00pm. The water temperature is holding between 80F and 95F. Do you think it will be too hot and dry once the leaves stand above the water? Should I offer them filtered afternoon sun? Move them onto the porch where they'd get less direct sun? My hardy lilies are under the porch roof and doing well. |
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- Posted by cody_mi z5 MI (codyvtaylor@live.com) on Sun, May 30, 10 at 13:36
| this is my first year with them and i'm no expert, but i'd say you're doing it backward. mine get full sun until around 1pm and then the house blocks the sun the rest of the day. hopefully someone else will know for sure. they all seemed to be growing pretty slowly until last week when i put in the fertilizer, now they're all popping up like crazy! |
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Sun, May 30, 10 at 14:05
| Usually plants that might overheat do best in morning sun and then some shade in the afternoons, when its the hotest. That's what I'd probably do, unless your lotus seem to be handling the heat fine. If you didn't want to move them, you could always buy something like a market umbrella and put it up over your 2 containers to shade them from the intense afternoon heat. cody.....its pretty amazing how quickly they respond to the fertilizer! |
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