|
| I have a pot of dawrf lotus and would like to have regular size lotus. Any kind of regular size lotus will do.
I have been trying to grow it from seeds with no success. I have no problem with gernimation, but they all rot later. I have tried to put gernimated lotus seeds at different stages (from just started sprouting to with several pair of leaves) into a pot with garden soil and water, they all rotted and died. Now, I have another 2 seeds with leaves and a little roots growing waiting to be transplated and this is my 4th try. Does anyone have personal experience of growing lotus from seeds and can you share the detail steps? I have read all the discussions and the links on this forum. |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| Sara, try sand. Either masonry sand or play sand. Don't fertilize until they have at least 3-4 leaves. Corrie |
|
- Posted by sara_in_philly (My Page) on Sun, Jul 25, 10 at 18:12
| Thank you for the sand suggestion, I am going to give it a try. Will let you know how it turn out. |
|
| Sara, I hybridize waterlilies and sometimes lotus for fun. Here's what I do for lotus. Let the seeds dry until the outside is hard. Rub one spot of the seed on fine sandpaper, concrete, whatever is handy, until I see the white inside layer. Soak in warm water. When they sprout Take Dixie cups filled 1/2 with sand, stick sprouted seed in middle. top off with warm water. Put in shade. Don't fertilize until they have at least 3-4 leaves, floaters. I break pond tads up with a hammer and just use small pieces. I lost a lot of them to rot when I tried any kind of dirt. One problem you might be having right now is heat. Keep them in the shade or just morning sun this time of the year. Full day or afternoon sun can cook them. HTH |
|
- Posted by pondmaninal 7b (My Page) on Sun, Jul 25, 10 at 19:52
| You know, Victoria Adventures has all types of info on starting lotus seeds. Just follow the link. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Lotus cultivation
|
- Posted by sara_in_philly (My Page) on Mon, Jul 26, 10 at 21:55
| Corrie & pndmanial, thank you for the info! Hopefully, my lotus seeds will survive in sand. |
|
- Posted by sara_in_philly (My Page) on Sun, Aug 15, 10 at 12:20
| Just an update about my 2 lotus seeds -- they are doing great! Corrie, I followed your advice and used sand. I put one seed in a 3" diameter plastic container and the other in a 6" diameter plastic container, fill both containers with 3" sand. And put both containers into a dishpan and filled the dishpan with water, 2-3" above the sand. Amazingly, the water in dishpan has stayed clear and clean all this time. To avoid lotus being baked, I kept them indoor near a sunny window (air conditioner vent closed off in that room). And when each seed has 4 floating leaves, I put in a little fertilizer(small pieces of aquatic plant food). Now the seed in small container has 5 leaves, the one in bigger container is trying to grow the 5th leave. I have never gone this far in my previous attemps and am just thrilled with the result so far. So what's my next step? How often should I fertilize them? How long do I keep them in these small containers? I am sure there is a point that I need to put them into a bigger container, but exactly when I am not sure. Anyway, this is where I am now and thank you so much for the advices, please keep them coming! |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Ponds & Aquatic Plants Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.